First Impressions
by Farmageddon
Summary: I got to thinking what if Cameron had got to Cromartie first. How good an infltrator would TOK 715 really had been. How long would it take for the Connors to figure her out. I accidently erased the orginal version uploading chapter 6!
1. Chapter 1

I just got to thinking : what if? How long would it have taken for John and Sarah to figure it out. How good an infiltration model could TOK715 really have been if she had got to Cromatie before he tracked down John Conner?

* * *

14 days earlier.

Cameron slung Cromatie's body over her shoulder and carried it the last one hundred metres towards a neatly dug hole in the sand . She paused, turning around with the exposed metal carcass on her back to make a full scan of the area. She was certain this sector of desert was devoid of human life. The only living creatures emitting heat traces were those of small desert mammals and whatever else might be out hunting them tonight.

Cameron listened intensely,attending to , then filtering the noise of night- spiders spinning, knitting their webs in the thorn trees, and further still she followed the sound of a road train hauling its load northwards along the distant highway . If a human foot pressed into the sand or moved against rock within a five hundred metre radius, she would hear it.

As she bent forward Cromatie's body slid off her shoulder, making a dull thud as it impacted into bottom of the pit. She picked up the shovel and worked quickly with a singular concentration. Strategies reformulated in her mind. She had decided to source Thermite and return later for the correct disposal procedure.

As she stared into the shallow grave her gaze seemed penetrate into the disappearing carcass of metal and flesh. Her intensity wasn't hatred or any burning emotion. Simply a large element of her mission parameters had been accomplished. She'd taken out the triple eight sent to kill John Connor. If she had been human she might have smiled with a sense of quiet satisfaction and relief. Being Cameron, with no humans around , there was no requirement for her to make facial expressions or to simulate satisfaction.

Cromatie had leaked organic bodily fluids and lubricant on her clothing as she had carried "him". If a fuel cell had ruptured isotopes in the lubricant could temporarily damage her organic layer and she might even be mildly hazardous to other organic life until she could properly scrub down. She removed her top and jeans and placed them in a plastic liner for disposal . There were identical clean clothes and shoes in the bag at her feet. She would put on the clean ones later.

Thorn trees cast their elongated shadows across the sands. Cameron, her body alloyed in bright moonlight, carried on shovelling until the patch sand she was working became indistinguishable from the rest of the desert.

Strategies reformulated, There would be more triple eights to follow . Each one slightly more advanced than the last.

She must find and protect John.  


* * *

14 days later.

John Connor ( recently John Baum) searched the faces of the students exiting through the main door. In each school, no mater in which State, all students looked and walked like this when going home. There were the loud ones in groups, the shy kids who usually found another shy kid to walk home with, boyfriends and girlfriends with arms round each others waist in their own universe, and then the odd loner usually , rucksack bouncing on his back, running for cover. He smiled at the irony of the odd loner. Geeks sure inherit this earth, although not in any way they could have imagined. There he was , future saviour of mankind and always the one walking fast, avoiding contact, making endless excuses getting home before the Connor cast-iron curfew came down. Honorary geek.

John rested his weight against the wooden gatepost. Stay invisible , keep out of group peripheral vision. He was already getting, "we suspect you might be a weirdo"- look from some of the students in the corridors. John shut them out of his mind. The name calling and testing wouldn't start for another week or so. He'd handle it quietly and calmly and do his best to fade of the radar. Just fade into the shadow, blend and blend until there was so little left of him it didn't count.

The chances were Cameron Phillips wouldn't even be there in amongst the students going home this afternoon. If she did turn up: John ran through probabilities why she would. He'd been through this "friendly on the first day situation" in some new towns and schools he'd been moved to before.

Probabilities for Cameron Phillips friendliness in order of certainty:

1. The student counsellor had singled him out as the potential weird loner , the troubled kid,and assigned her to help integrate him on his first day. It was part of her psychology assignment.

2. She was being polite and would drift away in a week or so.

3. She belonged to hyper-evangelical church and the girls were all this friendly before they begin pressuring to go to sunday service. Could be anything, maybe even one of those crazy snake-cult churches he'd seen on TV, they were out here, somewhere. Jeez what a hick-town. A God that doesn't intervene to stop the sky burning and three billion souls rising heavenwards on the heat, sure isn't going be the slightest bit interested in whether a rattlesnake takes it upon itself to bite into the arms of shiny eyed manic preacher in a tin shack down on a dry grass patch in Hickstown.

4. Cameron was hoping to sell his family a tractor.

5. She was too young for the FBI, CIA or any other group, so he ruled Government Agent out.  


* * *

For some reason his palms started to sweat, and he breathed to control the rising nervous energies in his body. Then she was there, he could see her through the thinning crowd in the exit, her dark hair flowing over her purple leather jacket.

As Cameron came out of the main door she paused, scanned and spotted him straight away. Even from this distance John felt her eyes lock onto him . As she made her way towards him it was like all the other voices and faces faded out. Then she was walking in his direction, slightly quicker than the last groups of students straggling home. In that moment he felt like he was falling.

"Hi John, thanks for waiting," Cameron beamed

"Hi said John, not quite sure what to do next , his hand uncurled from a fist , it had been tightly griping the strap to his rucksack.

"Which way do you walk home John?"

When he answered , John sensed fate , it was reorganising invisible forces around him. He had been so fascinated by his glimpse of the fatemaking process, he'd hardly realised he had just told a girl (he hardly knew), where he lived and the route he took home. If Sarah found out , he'd done this on his first day, she'd predictably shout at him for fifteen and a half minutes, then move him to another town quicker than it took her to strip and reassemble the working parts of an AK47 , no blindfold, on the kitchen table.

Cameron's voice broke into his thoughts.

"That's the way I go too" Cameron replied her eyebrows slightly furrowed , as if to ask is it OK if I walk home with you? Her body language already signalling it was her intention to do so.


	2. Chapter 2

Many thanks for the comments . They are always very positive and valuable. I can see the whole of this story. I must warn you it is going to get very bleak. It's not a romance, but there will be a kind of loving as it resolves itself. I hope you enjoy.

**2027**

Cameron Connor rebooted. She blinked and her optics analysed the face of John Connor 2.473 m away from hers. Simultaneously she assessed the firepower of the four person unit shielding John. They were pointing Hi- Charge plasma rifles at her head and legs . If her emotion circuits had reached functionality at this stage in her reboot , her face expressed nothing of it, given the imminent danger she was in. Connor's Triple Eight stood on guard inside the entrance to the bunker. There was no way she was getting out.

For John Connor, witnessing Cameron's reboot moment was pure petal-falling, Zen.

Would it be successful? With this much of her memory hacked out. Before he , and the rest of Tech-Com had begun the final selective wipe , even Cameron couldn't tell him if the process would work for sure.

As Cameron ran through her core programme , subroutines jostled for precedence, overrides flashed on her HUD. If anyone could decrypt the base language, the transcript would read as if a team prosecutors and defence lawyer's had been thrashing out a first degree murder case. In real , human time , only seconds later the "case" was resolved. John Connor Termination -Overridden .

The corners of her mouth curled in a faint smile. Her eyes flashed recognition. She slowly reached her arm up so her fingertips could feel around the newly healing flap of scalp , fingertips dabbing at wet hair on the side of her head.

Behind her, the fuel cells of the Time Displacement Equipment had begun to hum. Three humans, already stark naked, goose bumps, teeth chattering with adrenaline, skin crawling with Time Static, were doing their best to cover themselves with their arms and hands. It was like standing a freezer full to the ceiling of a million electro-- static millipedes . Derek Rees shivered uncontrollably and stared hard into the distant wall. The one metre thick shields were lowering over the glass observation ports.

Cameron inclined head to one side then the other looking distastefully puzzled. There was so much data missing from her memory . Anything , upon, her capture that could give Skynet a strategic advantage in this timeline had been erased. Everything was now abstracted , all extraneous data removed, leaving a very clean set of mission parameters and a handful of living memories , mostly of personal and intimate moments with John, untraceable fragments out of time and place. The wipe had to be cut this fine to the exit deadline. Not even a corridor number or location to the TDE could be allowed to be recalled.

"So this is it". Between his finger and thumb John held the secondary storage chip in front of her. This is where Cameron's missing memories had been transferred and safely held . They would be "reintegrated" once the mission was complete and she and her support crew were safely back in 2027. Assuming their return.

The safety team stood down and left the room. They were alone. Cameron seemed in deep thought: She was hazy, like a patient having come around from general anaesthetic, but she was typically non-pressured by the urgency of the situation.

"John, I'm puzzled, there are sixty five seconds missing from the orders you gave me during the Final Briefing. Between 14.07 and 15.12, what happened?"

John shrugged his shoulders, "Oops sorry , screwdriver must of slipped whilst I was in there. It won't be anything important, don't worry, I'll dig it out for you when you get back if you really need it. " Even when John Connor grinned , his face remained inscrutable.

"John," Cameron looked seriously concerned, "this relates to orders concerning one of the roles of my support team, it might be important."

"I haven't got time to bring up the briefing notes now. You are leaving in four minutes and... twelve seconds, come on it's time to go, get in , the shields are closing, people are waiting"

Cameron reached out to hold John. As he wrapped his arms around her, he whispered,  
" I know you can't remember all of it now, but we have said our good-byes. They were beautiful, and I promise you -your memories will waiting for you, I will be waiting , right here, for you, when you and your team get back, now come on, it's time."

As she left him the Triple Eight made to open the outer chamber door. She touched , him on the shoulder he leaned forward to listen as Cameron briefly said something out of John's earshot. The Triple Eight straightened up , looked her in the eyes and nodded.

Cameron was at two steps away from the TDE inner chamber door, John shouts over the rising crackling and blue flashing charge " Cam-I love you."

She didn't pause or turn to look back. John doesn't know if she even heard him.

* * *

"What did she say Bob ?" John asked as they were walking up the sloping corridor towards the bunker exit.

The Triple Eight's expression remained implacable, " Look after him, and remember he can be a complete bastard at times, make sure he does his share of cleaning up."

"Do you think I am, a complete bastard?"

"I have no records of your fathers identity . As Sarah Connor never changed her surname I assume your parents were not married at the time of your conception , nor your birth . Would you care to update my files?"

Subtle machine humour already? John just smiled a wide knocked-out teeth smile , ran his hand through his hair shook his head This was going to take months of preliminary social interaction and learning with his temporary protector. At least Metal doesn't fall asleep and snore loudly when you share a room.

"That file update? Not right now Ok, I'll explain later "he replied.

Then he tried to remember. What had made him think of snoring,then it dawned on him:, had Cameron's sleep-simulation light snore mode been on suppress in evolving subroutines files? Later that would drive the kid crazy when he couldn't sleep. What else had they forgotten?

Too late now. She'd gone.

* * *

**1999**

"Mum, I'm going to be about twelve to fifteen minutes late, OK?

"No, I'm going to check out the video store with a friend. I'm walking home with _her_, She lives three blocks down and she's got a video she wants to take back."

"The video, It's The History Of American Art , part 2, look quarter of an hour, no there's no need to come and meet us"

"Groceries, 'll get them, yeh,yes, Frozen fries, 1 kg , yep I'll get those as well."

"Yeh you too."

John put away his cell phone and stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, looking slightly away , over Cameron's shoulder towards the distant sandstone hills.

John cleared his throat. "Cameron, I guess you'll find out anyway my Mum is a total control freak on the first week in a new school. She's got her reasons. She eases off after about a month. Then I get to go out then for at least an hour a week. Ok."

Cameron had been updating her numerous rendered models of John Connor. He was 15 kg lighter than at his physical peak. His hair was "untidy", and he appeared moderately malnourished even with the surplus of food available in this time. No scarring to face, no tattoos. Urgently requires new pair of well fitting, hygienic training shoes.

As they started walking she automatically took to the outside of the pavement placing herself between John and the potential lines of fire from passing traffic, John didn't notice. What he did notice was she modulated her pace to match his . It felt good, "kinda light" was one way of describing having Cameron walking this close and in step with him.

"John, why did you say the video I am returning is A History Of American Art Part 2?"

"I was just making it up, there's no way she'd believe anything I'd said on the way home anyway. What is the video"

"Its a war movie , about an ex-special forces soldier who is physically attacked by the local police . He escapes and evades them, devises improvised traps and weaponry and eventually draws them into an ambush . The title is Rambo. Have you seen it?"

As if Cameron suddenly thought up the idea, she asked: " Would you like to come home with me and watch it ? My parents won't mind, I could watch it again and we take it back later. I could get them to ring your mum, you can stay and eat with us. I can arrange to drive you back and drop the video off. That's in a in a car, not a tractor. There are no tractors at our house."

"And, if you don't want to watch Rambo ,we can see if there is something like a History of American Art, although I doubt we will find it in the local video store" Cameron looked straight ahead in the direction they were walking. She seemed to smile a faint, if enigmatic smile.

" Rambo. -Choice of video Cameron! That's the one where Sly makes a bow and arrow, I've seen bits of it yeh, I'd love, I mean like to watch all of it. I'll have to try to negotiate with mum first. It might not be tonight.

If he could pull this off , this was going to be about as close to normal things get. John Connor , motivated , began serious figuring strategy.

As they walked on, Cameron Phillips stared-down a very large approaching, flatfooted, Hick-dweller , who switched route to avoid colliding with John and herself, at the last minute.

This was John Connor's first taste of the rest of the life he was to lead.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the delay . I have been seriously busy up to my elbows in letters and real life stuff. Hope this is going where you'd like it to go.

captlanock: Thanks for the heads up. I'll work back through this stuff as the story progresses. It occured to me Cameron wouldn't have been wearing _the_ leather jacket in 1999 either. - I've created an imaginary town in Red Valley and it's a composite of a few places. If you spot any other continuity stuff let me know.

* * *

You must have heard the story about John Connor's opening move in Century Work Camp? The one where he makes the chess board?

In Century, work detail would collapse into what ever makeshift bedding the machines had allowed them to scavenge from the shells of former factories and the streets of broken buildings inside the camp perimeter . The Machines had left these buildings intact as killing houses. They would release a human to determine how he or she would try to evade and hide from them, would they make for the stairs or the cellars?They could also study and record group dispersal patterns and behaviours. These areas are where they refined their optical and other tracking systems. It is also where they tested our reactions as well as our "physical response" to the trauma of ballistics.

The machines were tolerant of scavenging . Searching out bedding and materials gave humans temporary purpose, A sense of purpose increased efficiency, furthermore without bedding and recycled clothing humans expended more energy and required more nutrition. They sometimes left piles of clothing and boots in the entrance to the factory. Machine psychology suggested it would hep make a more positive association with the building. Those on incineration detail would inform the other details of clothing availability, because that day, they had been ordered to strip and burn bodies naked, placing clothing and footwear in sorted piles at the disused factory entrance.

The Machines had also allowed their POW's a to scavenge things with which scratch and scrawl images and graffiti onto concrete surfaces, even to make small artefacts and produce diaries. These became objects of machine study, windows into understanding human nature and psyche. Anything that fell outside the tolerated paradigm of artefact such as makeshift weapons, would be immediately confiscated, and the perpetrators punished on the spot . As we all know , then The machines remind us we have a relatively low threshold of pain, and are physically frail. Night and day the machines observed us. Partly using us as a study group, partly as an easily available , renewable , and ultimately expendable workforce.

In his third month in Century John had improvised a chess board by scratching out the squares onto a sheet of plate aluminium using a piece of timber for straightedge and a four inch nail as a scribe. He stashed it under one of the many loose tiles in the dormitory bloc. He knew the machines would find it. By trying to conceal the board it would indicate to The Machines the value he placed on it. He set about collecting bits of scrap metal, nuts bolts, screws , off cuts of low grade metal plate for the chess pieces and kept them in a pocket he cut out from an old pair of combat trousers.

One night , John forced himself stay awake after tipping back his bowl and swallowing cold grey-pink goo .( Feed was actually some of the less fit and able, former members of the work detail rendered down , with a few added flavours supplements, roughage minimal doses of antibiotics .) He had finished "feed" -( no one ever called it a meal) He got out his chess board, lined up the pieces, hexi-bolts- pawns, 20 mm screws Knights. Etc. 30 mm for a Bishop. A square off-cut of steel for a King. And so on.

John looked at Maddie Harrison who had been lying on her side watching him and got her to follow what he was doing. She was eleven years old. Her parents had died in Century before John arrived . It was the time The Machines had wanted to test the interaction of various grades of alloy with living tissue. That is why Maddie was still alive. She had a series of alloy rods, differing grades drilled and fused into the bone her arms . Some of the slightly projecting ends of the rods itched and and sometimes watery fluid blistered out around the surrounding skin of those ones which weren't successfully taking. Maddie got less, and lighter duties by virtue of being one of their "volunteers" .

John gestured for her to come over . Maddie was old enough to remember how to play chess. The Night Sentry , a T600 became intrigued and began recording the event.

After three short games, all of which Maddie "won" John motioned for her to try to get some sleep.

The Night Sentry came over and quietly asked John what had happened.

John explained he had wanted to play chess, he was normally a good player, but he was tired so the child easily beat him. Did the T600 know that throughout history many human leaders played chess? It was still a popular game with all Resistance fighters. It helped them with their strategic thinking. Then he said he was tired , still hungry , and rolled over. Before he drifted off, he kept talking: There was a point humans can't think around when they are fatigued, and that's why a rested eleven year old child beat him at chess tonight. You had to be in the right frame of mind to think like a chess player, then he gabbled on like most humans do about pre- Judgement Day life : chess clubs, people he'd known , games he had played. The T600 recognised reminiscing as a basic human trait in captivity and a good source of intelligence.

It was a gamble the T600's ( most basic) Gestalt subroutines would take the bait- It would grasp the potential of a game of chess to measure human strategic thinking under differing conditions. The machines couldn't "get" whole aspects of human nature and motivations. They weren't able build an accurate predictive model of what we were going to do next. John's gamble was The Machines would try to determine what constituted efficient and inefficient human states of mind , and how these differing states of mind affected our ability to make decisions and develop tactical planning . The objective would be to develop a set of predictive models. Chess was clearly the abstraction of our ability to form strategy , and this ability could be measured under differing conditions .A tempting area for area for research and experimentation.

The Night Sentry reported chess playing activity, and the possibility of determining new areas of human tactical vulnerabilities. The Controller became curious. At First Detail it sat her in a chair in Control and ordered Maddie to play chess against itself using a keyboard and large computer screen. Of course the controller won hands down, every game . It ordered other children to play, and sent for a control group of adults.

To mimic the conditions the Resistance fought under, it ordered some of them be given (for Century) high levels physical rest , regular sleep, and higher levels of nutrition throughout the testing period, others less food and rest, it and subjected some of them to relatively harmless periods of sleep depravation. Humans never won a single game of chess, although some games lasted longer when they developed more sophisticated tactics.

However , humans silently began to acknowledge their first real victory. Humans, particularly,children began thinking in terms beyond staying alive today and tomorrow Those in the test group began conceiving new new chess moves, discussing something more than daily survival with others. The testing also bought hours off work detail, sometimes additional sleep sometimes higher levels and quality of feed A fitter , sharper group was emerging.

Importantly it came to be recognised The Machines could be manipulated because they only comprehended the superficial reasons for our behaviours. What they intrinsically lacked and would never get, was a grasp of our real underlying motives and objectives . Their reasoning evolved from 0's or 1's, a thing was either itself or not, outcomes from the competition of strong probabilities, Being nothingness- existence or not. They couldn't comprehend ambiguity, nor our sense e of ambivalence. . And it was this weakness, John and the rest of those in Century gradually, imperceptibly and confidently began to develop and manipulate . And from that moment on the Metal fuckers never saw what was coming at them.

* * *

Sarah Connor had finished claw hammering out a section of partition wall that divided the living room and kitchen . She was picking up the broken of pieces plasterboard off the floor, when John rang to say he was walking home with a new friend. . What the hell had gotten into him? John was usually more cautious with friendships in his first week at a new school. She took stock , the backs of the settees had were still ripped apart, a cluster of bin liners full of dismembered flack jackets slumped next to the front door . Kevlar stuffing was poking out the furniture. Weapons holdalls were under the table in the kitchen. This was definitely not the place to bring a friend back to , even if she was going to wait outside whilst John brought the groceries in . She couldn't let him walk her home . Wait outside/ not walk her home- either way it looks odd, getting -you-noticed stuff. Sarah decided to "intercept" the two of them , preferably at The Store, on their way home, make some excuse that ensured neither John nor herself labelled as weirdoes or freaks.

She pulled the largest fragments of broken plaster out of her hair, Fastened the the Glock 18 holster , checked the spare mags , and threw on her coat and cap on before hurrying out the door.

Sarah was almost running as she turned into into Red Valley. Ahead: A few students were heading towards her, making their way home. She glanced behind : A man in an olive combat jacket was moving in her direction . He was walking his dog . Civilians, Non- combatants. " Walk, don't run." Sarah told herself

* * *

The Red Valley Video shop- combined with General Store is at the corner , on the crossroads of Red Valley Road and Sawmill Lane. John isn't inside the store . She finds herself outside gripping the iron railings , looking up Red Valley towards the School. She couldn't see him . She realised her shirt and coat is stuck to her back with cold sweat.

A Connor precept kicks in: "In public spaces , do nothing to draw attention to yourself". Her breathing was almost regular" : Unconsciously she adjusted her cap, checked her hair, then smoothed down her clothing.

Sara had formulated their exit . The Glock was lightweight against a Triple Eight, but it could buy seconds. Enough time to slow it up with concentrated fire get her and John into one of the maze of back alleys behind the small shopping precinct. Enough time for the thermal trace her and John's footprints to fade , for their heat trace to evaporate from the concrete. John's first cyborg protector had taught her that .

_SUNNYSIDE FARM - EGGS & POULTRY_ : Eight feet high, white letters on a green background - A Chicken transport lorry pulled up at the junction throbbing out diesel fumes. It blocked her line of vision and handful off downy feathers began swirl in from behind in its recent wake. By the absence of chicken noise the lorry, had dropped its load and was returning to the battery farm.

The dog walker in the olive combat Jacket had caught up with her . They now occupied the space Sarah needed to be in see up the road.

The dog didn't even look up at her at first.

Without acknowledging her the man ordered "Jadey : sit." . Jadey sat at the edge of the curb, lead slack.

It was a female more-German Shepherd -than-mongel. Short light golden coat, dark brown eyes. I was more than powerful enough to do security.

He was in his early thirties,washed out olive green combat , steel toe cap boots, Maybe he worked night security behind the wire one of the local factories.

A pair of dark brown eyes pored into hers . She didn't hear it , but she saw it shake as it turned its head to look at her. Without baring its teeth , the dog was growling at her.

"Jadey, shut up. That is _enough_." The man looked genuinely apologetic, he spoke loudly over the nose of the lorry " I'm sorry it's a new town for her, we've only been here a couple of week, and she's kind of jumpy. You OK?"

Sarah didn't reply.

This is all the fuck she needed right now. Her senses were still overactive and he was starting to look, familiar. The problem was familiar cuts both ways. People who look like other people look and feel" familiar. However, and this is Sarah's point, the FBI all look and feel familiar, so do mercenaries, ex soldiers and anyone else out for picking up their bounty . Sarah became acutely aware of the holstered weigh of the Glock against the small of her back.

* * *

This was definitely not the way Derek Rees imagined his first meeting with The "Holy" Mother Of The Resistance. She was pale, edgy , her hair full of plaster dust , she had a brown coffee stain in the left hand corner of her mouth. She was sweating.

Being marched down an the alley behind the General Store in Red Valley and getting the back of his skull blown out , in the first the thirty seconds, by a twitchy Sarah Connor, had never been part of the game-plan.

John had warned him often enough about how dangerous his mother would be . Derek couldn't match the the image he had of her, the fable, with the reality standing in front of him. She seemed fragile , scared even, only her eyes flashed hint of the fire in her nature.

Derek tried again . Every word carefully chosen . Sentences non-threatening phrased like a question , ending with rising intonation :'

"Derek Philips, we've just moved i n ."

" My wife sent me to meet our daughter , Cameron."

"She's just started at Red Valley, and she's supposed to be dropping a video in for me, we don't think she's got enough money to pay the overdue fine ... my fault"

He paused to see if Sarah was registering his intent. Her eyes gave the faintest sign of of acknowledgement he continued, dropping the intonation

He continued :

" Between you and me I think she's finding it hard, in a new school, that's why I brought Jadey along . Cameron's on her own a lot,

In between the throbs of the lorry he makes a "tusst" noise almost like he's spitting something through the roll in his tongue ,

"Cameron's high IQ , doesn't make friends easily , She and Jadey are close, , and , I needed to get out of the workshop anyway ...."

Derek realised he was rambling. He was becoming agitated and the goddamn dog was staring at Sarah Connor again, its ears were folding back. He reached down to stroke Jadey's head.

Under normal conditions Sarah found early disclosers So. Fucking. Irritating : They went against everything she stood for :It was like they were mentally undressing themselves before anxiously parading naked in front of her and feeling embarrassed by their level of indiscretion when she cuts then off.

Sarah was about to ask the name of the video " Cameron " was returning when the chicken-lorry pulled out the main road. Derek waved. "There she is"

Two figures seen through a surreal halo of falling downy feathers. One male, one female seemingly deep in conversation broke their connection and the girl looked up to waved back.

She heard Derek saying" That's her... Looks like she's found a friend ."

* * *

As they had been crossing the road, Jadey focussed all her attention on Cameron and began wagging her tail . She got up without straining at the lead. Cameron rushed over knelt down and began fussing her, talking in the enthusiastic tone humans reserve for dogs and small children. Jadey began rubbing her head and nose against Cameron's arm, pushing the weight of its side into her, brushing against her. Then it sat waiting for her to pull a treat out of her pocket.

Cameron says" Hi Derek" Without looking up at Derek

"Jadey, have you missed me ? "

How much?

The dog offered her a paw.

"There you go, _good _girl "

The treat disappeared in one bite. Jadey looked at John and her tail kept on wagging.

"Who's this? This is John. He's started at my school."

" Come over here John say, Hi. To Jadey"

John , held out a hand, fingers curled into a gentle fist. Jadey sniffed the back of his hand and then licked ibetween his kunckles . She stood up deciding it was time for Cameron to walk her home, positioning herself on the outside, Cameron's side , of the couple, waiting for them to set off. It kept looking up at John.

Sarah coughed .

"Hi, erm Mum, this is Cameron ."

His mum stiffened slightly, at some point she'd become aware she was caked in dry sweat , had plaster fragments tangled in her hair, and the knees of her the jeans were dusted white where she'd been kneeling down. - " Sarah. Sarah Rees"

Cameron shot out her free hand and produced a faultless smile that wouldn't have been out of place on the front desk of a PR company . Her accent and manner was at odds with her clothing, Sarah had half expected Cameron to speak with the local drawl mixed with a dose of teenage universal tolerance and exasperation- It wasn't, her voice was crystal clear" accent-less", her attention 100% intensity beaming in Sarah's direction.

Cameron's handshake was light but firm. She was lithe, quick and balanced in her movements. Sarah had looked her straight in the eyes. There was curiosity and intelligence in there, confidence, no cruelty- but like a dog's- beyond these qualities, Cameron's eyes had been difficult to read. The expression changes, the eyes didn't She was undeniably beautiful, but gave the impression she absolutely had no idea of it. There was air of simplicity about her Sarah could not quite categorise.

-----

Derek had been staring at John Connor. It was definitely him. The same eyes, features, hair, some of his mannerisms, none of his adult confidence yet , none of his force. This John was still an innocent. In another, pre -Judgement Day world, this could have been the older John Connor's gentler son standing in front of him.

"John, this is my Dad, Derek."

"Derek Phillips- Good to meet you John." He stood square on to John regarding him as he held out his hand .

Derek spoke quietly. John immediately recognised in the familiar ghost-at the back of the voice of of men who have seen combat . "Erm John . I've got to pick up a few groceries get the video back. Cameron you promised, tonight you were going to get my Home Page up and running, convert something into Jpegs?. "

Cameron face wrinkled to a scowl.

The truth about Derek's voice? He had no idea how a wiped Cameron would react if he displayed the slightest aggression, hint of a threat . From experience she could wait weeks, months for the optimum before choosing to make a measured response to the slightest move against John Connor. Plus there was a wired , armed Sarah Conner one metre, away standing at nine O clock to him, Last but not least there was John Connor's dog, JD , watching him out of the corner of one eye . So it was for the best Derek spoke quietly until all things had been checked out.

"John," Sarah chipped in, "we've got unpacking to do tonight and I've got a kitchen wall to mend, pipes remember" she nodded to remind him of the situation back at home. " You wait here, I'll get the food , yeh ? You got that ten dollars please?" John reached in his back pocket and handed over the note.

* * *

Sarah followed Derek through the main entrance of the Store. Before going in Sarah turned and saw Cameron was now effortlessly perched on the railings, and Jadey was sat , lead trailing , head tilting , as if she following an intense, animated debate between Cameron and and John . Sarah listened in for a moment

"No way Cameron , Game 32 :if Karpov had gone down that route, he'd have lost his queen, four moves down the line, Kapserov had him covered, he'd have won either way.

But that's my whole point John. I'll go through the permutations again, Karpov had a way out even then"... Sarah noticed her intensity and the way she never took those brown eyes off John, for a moment.

"Wake me up , Sarah blinked hard, and found herself thinking, " this is too fucking good to be true".


	4. Chapter 4

**  
Yoskiko- 2010- 2025 Biographical overview.**

In 2010 Yoshiko Yamamato had been one of the the brightest and best of that year's Computer Science graduates. She had gone on to start her PhD at New Mexico State University. Yoshi had set herself the intricate problem of developing AI systems capable of recognising human social behavior as well as responding to it in a meaningful way.

Like every other human being on this planet in 2010 , when she looked up from her screen and out of the university windows , Yoshi had no idea that one day very soon the sky could never be that heart-piercingly blue , ever again.

Had it not been for JD, Yoshi would more likely than not have gone on to MIT as a research assistant . In a few short years she would have been Professor Yamanto. As a PhD student, and single parent , she had considered a move on to MIT because it would have been a safe place to live and work. It had a creche and a day nursery somewhere bring up her two year old daughter.

On Judgement Day Yoshi had been in the oldest, strongest part of the university buildings when one of the ten MIRVD 150 megaton warheads from an SS18 found its target in the exact centre of Kirtland Air Base . Cassie, her two year old daughter didn't make Judgement Day. She had been with Yoshi's parents when one of the remaining SS18-delivered warheads detonated in downtown Sacramento.

Yoshi had set MIT as a goal. Back in 2010 watching a vapour trail from an airliner feathering out across the sky, looking out of a University window and daydreaming about a possible future, she had yet to learn : No place on earth is ever really safe.

* * *

Yoshi survived the aftermath of Skynet's First Wave against us. Eventually, by various twists and turns of fate she had ended up in Century with John Connor. In the way Machines do, they found out about her PhD thesis and had become curious about her. They set her challenges, studied her , began taking her off Work Details for long periods of isolation. In those days, and nights, she felt she had become nothing more than an organic, intuitive computer , working through formulas, processing data. But, she also learnt from The Machines, and Yoshi emerged to be one of the key figures in strategy and events that led up to the The Storming Of The Wire ,the precursor to humankind's Exodus from the Machine death camps.

In Century, Connor had seen Yoshi at work, and immediately grasped her potential. Now ,at 38, she was permanently based in one of the former Q Areas at New Barksdale AFB. She had grown to become of Connor' s closest, most trusted human allies. She was perhaps the only other living person who fully knew what Connor knew and understood about Machines.

From the start Yoshi had been the ideal candidate for setting up the 800 reorientation programme. At five foot two , she could often be seen walking around the corridor's of the Q Area with a 800 series cyborg in tow. It must have seemed odd to human fighters who spent their lives putting down Metal to watch Yoshi almost maternally holding the hand of some of the most sophisticated killing Metal in existence .

Visiting resistance fighters stopped in their tracks at the sight of Yoshi and an 800 crouched - Yoshi would be patiently explaining to one one of Connors "Metal Pets" why Base Children played with toys: What the significance was of each dirty piece of extruded Pre-JD plastic in the form and skin tone of a human infant was . How a plastic doll with a missing arm could mean so much to a four year old human child.

* * *

One day Yoshi had been deep in concentration. Strings of numbers were flowing through her head, and she began walking the corridors instead of pacing up and down outside the entrance to her department. Pacing could lead to questions from younger, concerned students. Pacing was learnt behaviour from her isolation in Century, and she never wanted to have to explain to anyone who had not been there, why she still walked exactly three metres ,turned one eighty ,and walked another three metres before turning again, in a wide, otherwise empty corridoor .

Yoshi was in her own world and jumped as she felt the light pressure of a human hand her on the shoulder. "Easy". It was Connor. He'd been following her on CCTV and caught up with her near The War Office.

He told Yoshi he " had something he'd like her to take a look at." He moved closer and spoke quietly "No one TechCom's ever seen anything like it before ."

He took her through to the Restricted Area of The 11 System. Connor keyed in the code and The Section 11 concrete blast door lifted. Beyond that was another corridor leading off into t the distance. It was flanked with locked steel "bulkhead" doors . Connor walked up to Door Eight, turned the 1960's safe dial, pulled the handle, and swung open the heavy door .On the other side of the bulkhead was the ubiquitous grey of a concrete cell . A typically sparse room, it had a table, three chairs, and bright light.

The "It" Connor had brought Yoshi to see was decativated. It sat under spotlights with its head and neck slumped against the headrest of the chair.

Yoshi moved closer , she placed her hand over her mouth "my god" . She had never seen anything like it. She was so used to the familiar bulk of 800 series . This was " different ," it was, "so lifelike, so... delicate ,"

"Where did it come from?"

Connor rocked slightly on the balls of his feet screwed his lips saying nothing. He seemed to be anticipating something of her.

Yoshi approached and gently took its head in her hands to examine the empty port housing in the side of its metal skull. As she did so, she unconsciously brushed the machines dark hair to one side so strands didn't fall into its open eyes.

She reached down to the machines hands which were no bigger than her own. As she turned them to expose the palms, she felt the dead weight and resistance of a metal endoskeleton.

Its hands were perfect , only one finger tip on the right hand had not completely healed around the exposed metal-. Once fully On-Line, missing skin and the finger nail would quickly regrow. Chip-Out Mode only allowed for basic organic maintenance, not full repair.

Yoshi held the machines hand . She felt along the top of its forearm and pressed into a pressure point near the elbow joint. The machines fingers reflexively curled in gentle warm grip around Yoshis own hand before relaxing again.

"John, do we have the chip?

Connor held out the cubed section of metal which housed the record of the machine's entire existence , and some might go as far to say, her soul.

When Yoshi held that component in the palm of her hand, Connor looked at her directly and said, "She's all yours. Bing her back. Anything, anything at all you need, you ask " Then he left her alone to wait outside.

As Yoshi walked around the machine's inert form, she examined the hands again. She considered the missing skin and nail - it was then she felt as if something had told her to look up . She saw what looked like piece of artwork scratched into the concrete wall beside the door . It was a diagram. At first appeared to be the geometric forms used express part of The Riemann Hypothesis , but as Yoshi traced its outline it became clear the sketch was more than this.

The Machine's sketch depicted three spheres distorting a three dimensional grid around them. Like a ribbon of silk , a line artistically widened and narrowed as it curved and spiralled through the three dimensional planes in the grid. The curving, spiralling line represented a further dimension being subjected to distortion.

The speheres were stacked in a vertical line and linked by two downward pointing arrows .

Next to the diagram there were neatly carved letters and a date, currently two years in Yoshi's future.

J - TC Aug 28th 2027.

Next to the heat of the spotlights, Yoshi shivered. Without Connor having said a word, she knew , this was _her._

**

* * *

**

**1999 Red Valley.**

Derek and Yoshi had been unloading today's deliveries off the pallets into the sheds at the back of their house. It was nearly dusk . Before they started unloading Derek had looked over at the pile of boxes and cartons and asked" why don't we let the machine do this?

Yoshi had pulled rank on him and explained ( again): Under Cameron's new parameters it wasn't one of her roles. He could ask her to assist in any task he was occupied with, within reason, but he could not allocate a full detail like this to her. It wouldn't be an normal expectation for a late twentieth-century teenage girl . Derek wrapped his arms around an oblong box, grunted as he started to lift , then staggered off across the yard . " Start with the heaviest stuff first "Derek reasoned-According to the label the package he was carrying weighed 43 KG.

"What is she doing then". He was still short of breath as he walked back for the next box

"Homework. Then she's going to check on the stocks and shares."

Derek made an "umf" sound before he bent down to pick up the next package . Maybe something had hit the mark and it had sunk in. Then again, Yoshi was coming to realise, with Derek it was hard to tell.

---

When they finished unloading the deliveries Yoshi and Derek had flopped into the comfort of late twentieth century living room furniture. JD was sprawled out on her rug . Occasionally she shifted her weight , stretched out , shook a hind leg , and sighed.

There was pizza box and bottles of cold budweiser on the lounge table. Yoshi had taken control of the remote because of Derek's tendency to constantly flick through the channels . By doing this, it forced him to concentrate on one programme and start to relax.

Derek and Yoshi became engrossed in a rerun of the X Files on the TV. The one where USAF pilots wear rubber masks and fly something very similar to a HK09, except the aircraft was manned , and it's airspeed and turning capability were completely unrealistic . The pilots were pretending to be aliens for public disinformation purposes. They wanted the public to think it was a spacecraft and not a prototype HK09. Every now and then Derek snorted, which was the closest Yoshi had yet seen to him expressing humour.

The sofa seemed to draw them ever deeper into its comfort zone . In that moment. all memory of the future ceased to exist . This was luxurious late twentieth century, mind-numbing-brain-rotting bliss. Neither wanted to move, possibly ever again.

As they reached yet another level of comfortable oblivion, it began : At first there was this bump- bump-bump. It sounded like a muffled end of a wooden tube banging on Cameron's bedroom floor.

Derek looked up "What is she doing ?" he asked .

"She said she was going to finish homework, check the stocks and shares and then take JD on patrol."

Derek stuck out his bottom lip and looked at his fingernails as he considered what was happening above the heads." Sounds like she's banging someones head against the floor. She's not banging a head against the floor, is she?"

Yoshi didn't look away from the screen and murmured "No, doesn't sound like a head . I think its the Rolling stones, might be Guns n Roses, I'm not sure "

The noise carried on. It got louder. JD's ears pricked up, she stood , yawned, walked over and placed the underside of her jaw on the sofa cushion between them. The dog's golden brown eyes looked imploringly first at Yoshi and then at Derek . Then Yoshi looked at Derek as well.

Derek put his glass down and exhaled through his nose "I'll go. I 'll do it calmly, JD stay here. "

Yoshi stroked JD's head ." No. No you stay ."

She could hear Derek on the landing , his voice was rising "Cameron, CAMERON ! " The bumping noise stopped and there was a brief exchange. This was followed by the distinct sound of a door slamming . Then the bass became even louder, JD had rushed into the the hall and she had started barking up the stairs. Derek was now yelling at JD to "stand down"

Yoshi could make out the song , it was definitely Guns n Roses version of Sympathy For The Devil. She'd made a copy of the CD herself in 2005.

As Derek came back into the living room , her collapsed back into the sofa and folded his arms . Yoshi tried to make eye contact. Derek tried to avoid her gaze.

"This is a goddamn interrogation softener, you know . She's going to wake us up at three in the morning and start asking us something." Derek spoke into the screen but the late twentieth century comfort spell had been broken.

"No, its not an interrogation softener ." Yoshi spoke softly trying to get JD to settle down again.

Derek's hand came up to the side of his face to his face and he rubbed his temple with his fingertips "All I did was ask her to turn the music down."

"And, what did she say?"

He stiffened. Apparently she has recall of Connor instructing her to call me a "dickhead" and, I quote " She is to use the term if I start acting like one". I'm not standing for this Yoshi, she's deliberately removed her rank and she's not an officer any more ."

"All right I'll handle it." Yoshi hauled herself out of the the sofa and moved swiftly up the stairs.

* * *

Cameron was lying on her bed, arms folded across her chest staring at her bedroom ceiling.

Yoshi went over to the CD player on her bedroom table and turned the music right down. She tilted her head in the imitation of one of Cameron's basic pre -programmed body language stances and waited. She should have known better , even she couldn't out stare or out-wait a terminator.

"OK, what's Rees done , or said ? "

"Nothing, Derek's done nothing ."

"Then why did you shout at him?"

"I didn't , he shouted at me."

"Did he call you metal?"

"He didn't call me metal . I called him a dickhead . That is because I recall John telling me to use this term in respect to certain aspects of Derek's behaviour . I took it as an instruction from General Connor."

This was about to descend into a logic-reasoning argument , which can excruciating with an 800, but with Cameron it could be worse, much worse.

"Cameron, stop there, please, and let me explain: Derek tried to make himself heard over the volume of the music you were playing. You know, he can't separate audio strands like you can, he wasn't shouting at you in anger. He's non-specifically angry ", she searched carefully for the word, you know, like a lot of us, "he's traumatised. "

"Oh, I must apologise then, mustn't I,?" There was sarcasm in her otherwise calm , controlled voice. Cameron was learning very fast from her new peer group at school

"Cameron what is it ? Tell me"

Cameron rolled on her side at looked up at her. "Mum", Cameron paused , Yoshi knew this was only the behavioural software talking, but Cameron must have heard Yoshi's heart missing a beat when she called her this. " It's lots of things" . Cameron said quietly.

Yoshi walked over and stroked Cameron's hair , pushing loose strands back into place . In one movement Cameron curled away and sat up against the headboard of her bed with her arms over her knees. Yoshi sat on the bottom half of the bed of the bed with her back against the wall . It was warm where cameron's legs had been resting. Cameron's bare feet were close to her own. Yoshi shifted her position so her toes contacted with the top of Cameron's feet. Cameron would be able to scan her and this would add a another dimension to her understanding . It was a (very) human- machine interface circuit.

" What's the matter?" Yoshi asked

Cameron looked at the backs of her hands . Her voice became vulnerable "I discovered set of numbers I didn't understand until recently. 23 and 1064 ". She looked into Yoshi's eyes to reinforce the significance she held placed on them . Then she looked away again. " These numbers are in the same set, in an non-headed subgroup with no further reference or related files. They are just always there , on counter, in my core programme."

Yoshi took a very calm breath, she pressed her toes slightly into Cameron's feet. Cameron feet responded like a human daughter's would . Cameron's fingers began twisting the button on the cuff to her shirt . She stared into the space between hers and Yoshi's knees.

"When did you discover this set of numbers?"

"Aug. 12, 1999, 21:32:06" Cameron's bottom lip began to quiver and she was blinking  
rapidly.

"August 12 , When you Terminated Cromatie? The number 22 on the counter became 23? You haven't really told me much about what happened when you did that."

There was fear in Cameron's eyes

"Tell me, please" coaxed Yoshi.

"The 23 , that its the number of Terminators I have "deactivated" isn't it?

To prevent her being scanned under questioning Yoshi's foot was no longer touching Cameron's , and her face gave little away.

Cameron shifted her gaze and stared at the bedroom window . Then she began began talking, quietly, matter of fact.

" It was horrible... in the warehouse- It took me fifteen minutes and thirty six seconds to deactivate him"

Cameron looked at Yoshi directly again , Yoshi's expression remained unchanged.  
She was listening with her full attention. Cameron continued

.... I had to break him down. It was quick, all strike and move, I had to keep moving all the time, stay out of his reach. Step out then in to work his knees, ankles, arm joints , neck , then out . He was slow... It was like like the T8's on the base had taught me in training . ..The servo in his right leg went first, he went down , then he was on the floor, crawling towards me, I just kept kicking, into his head, stamping my heel into his back . He slowed down more, Then I was down, on him, punching into him . His clothes had torn off , and his organic layer, his skin, it was all over my hands, it was like like liquid meat . I wanted it to stop, I wanted it to stop -so much,

"When did it stop Cameron?"

Cameron drew her arm up to make a fist and slowly drove it into into the mattress between them . " I punched hard into the fuel cell housing, the cells ruptured, and that was it, over . When I rolled him , to inspect his sensors , the breastplate , he was gone,.. Just a piece of inert metal covered in dead meat , lying there, white fluid spilling out....

"So ,what's the problem?"

"I can't stop thinking about what I did .. He, he was like me."

Yoshi took a deep breath and let it out before she spoke" Was "It" really like you Cameron?

Cameron looked away and went silent. She perceptibly shook her head . She had begun deep-processing Yoshi's' question

"Cameron, Cameron look at me, please. When you have an answer we'll talk more about this. Just consider the question for now."

"You said there was something else you were working through?"

Cameron nodded slowly. " 1064, the other number on my counter ?- I know what it represents now, and that's the 1064 reasons why Derek hates me isn't it? Cameron frowned. "How will John take it when he finds out? You and Derek will have to brief him on everything won't you?"

Yoshi considered what to say, what she could say? "Whatever happens, I want you to know this , come here, please"

Yoshi drew Cameron towards her and kissed her on the forehead.

Cameron looked puzzled and then smiled faintly "What was that for?"

"Doesn't matter, it's a human communication short-cut to answering a complex set of questions. - The easiest thing for your current parameters to deal with right now. And , don't get too used to kind this treatment either, soldier. "

Yoshi stood up and straightened her clothes.

"Come on, its time to go. JD needs her evening walk. Will you consider my question on patrol please ? I'll deal with Derek later ."

As Yoshi was leaving the room, in typical terminator style , Cameron fired out a last, one chance question - " Yoshi, I outrank Derek don't I ? In 2027, what rank am I ?"

Yoshi's brown eyes, suddenly became resitance- fighter- hard . " Don't even go there honey, you know the rules about what you can ask." You should do, you wrote them- Yoshi's mind echoed to itself , as she gently closed Cameron's bedroom door behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

**  
OK Jameron time.**

**Cameron might seem "different" , but I assure you, you are looking at her through another pair of eyes, and it really is the same Cameron with a few "different " behavioural parameters.**

**She's also got an adoptive 'mum'. As far as I can tell the relationship is genuine.**

**Derek hates metal , of course, but still has yet to find out what happened to Kyle, or that Kyle even MIA. So it''s all so much more subtle.**

**Remember, Cameron is partially wiped, but she's still an infiltrator at core level . So, after she's considered things, she's decided to use mirroring as a technique to get John to open up and gain his confidence.**

**With regard to Derek, you might like to ask who is going to be playing who, as the story develops.**

**Think of the three spheres diagram if you want to get the picture of where this is going.**

**Let me know if you enjoy this.**

* * *

Yoshi gently stroked Cameron's hand . "What did we believe before Judgement Day?"

"Well, in a lot of mythologies , we believed , before , a life, a sentience , is even conceived, it first existed as a whole 'spirit'. On conception , this spirit gets divided . One half becomes a woman, the other a man. That's why men and women always seem to be searching , because they are looking to find the missing half of their soul. But, here's the thing: men and women can't really begin to comprehend what they are searching for until they find the other person, and no one can fully explain to them what it's going to be like when they do meet up . When they do find each other , they recognise the missing half of their spirit and it all kind of makes sense."

Yoshi thought for a moment : "I suppose that's an old way of describing A Priori Potentialities in New Quantum Theory. "

Cameron looked up at her. "When you were in Century and The Metal made you Slave to them, and you were developing the New Quantum States Theory for my consciousness, were you thinking about that story?"

Yoshi paused to consider her response . "I'm not sure. I do know I was trying to remember all that was good in the world, before Judgement Day, and the good I saw in people after JD. I was really hoping , praying, the good things could work their way out from the theory .

"Yoshi, What do I tell John?"

"Tell him what he told you tell himself. _You never have to tell the whole truth for it not to be a lie._"

Cameron put her head back on her pillow, as if to think on what Yoshi had said.

After a while she asked : "Yoshi . Am I too old for a story?"

"No, no you're not, which one do you want?"

"The Cricket Field. I want to lie here and Gestalt Image for a bit. "

"I thought you might ask for that ." For some reason it was a favourite of reprogrammed T8's as well.

" Are you ready?- There's this little girl running through the Quantum Field. She's wearing a red dress."

"What's her name?"

"Let's call her Dorothy "

"Where's the field?'

"In her dream, but it could be the field at the end of the track behind this house. Are you settled now? Have you finished the questions?"

"Yes

"OK"

" It's late summer and the grass is going to seed . There's this hazy blue sky . The air is still , heat shimmers. The field is full of the sound of crickets. The little girl stops running and she examines a cricket. It's clinging to the underside of a grass stem. The cricket moves its back legs like its winding them up ready to jump.

"If the little girl runs along this track through the field, crickets leap around her. In real life it frustrates her because she can never predict which crickets will leap and which will stay put . "

" But , her mind is manufacturing her dream, and her mind knows in advance exactly how many jumping crickets she's going to count. To make the dream work , her mind keeps her unaware it's performing this task and how it comes to be, she can now accurately predict the number of jumping crickets .

" In real life it is almost impossible to predict how many crickets will shift from one state to another and make the leap, but this girl can exactly predict the number of jumping crickets . That happens when she forgets she's Gestalt-Imaging and, for a moment, and believes she's a little girl running through a field of crickets, and not sentient life form dreaming. "

Cameron is now lying on her bed , with her eyes closed, her face is relaxed and her mouth is curled into a smile.

" It's Ok sweetheart, I'll leave your door open , Derek and I will call you straight away if anything hits the grid."

* * *

**The next morning**

Derek Reese reloaded his fork and fed scrambled egg into his mouth with slow and deliberate movements . Derek had forgotten how good real food tasted. He relished the intensity of long forgotten textures and flavours . After fifteen years of eating rations and whatever else Resistance had been able to scavenge, scrambled eggs, cracked out of real-hen -aid eggs, toast and coffee took breakfast to a higher level of human sensuality .

Cameron sat patiently at the other end of the breakfast table, She was already wearing her jacket and had her school bag strapped over one shoulder. Of course she knew it was 07:45 , she could measure time down to the nearest nanosecond. She began lightly tapping her forefinger, precisely counting the passing seconds on the edge of the breakfast table.

Derek set the fork down on his plate and examined her. "Relax soldier, I'm going to eat my breakfast without any pressure from you, then I'll give you the lift. He looked away, and after he took a deep draught of genuine black coffee , he held her gaze and said "The world's not going to end today because you're a few minutes late."

* * *

John waited at the corner of Red Valley Road. He m at his watch . 08.13 .Cameron was three minutes late, already. This made him feel uneasy . Yesterday, when he'd sat next to her in math he had watched how carefully she laid out her pens, ruler and calculator . She'd whispered" hey "and handed him over a sharp pencil when she realised he hadn't got one. Cameron had seemed so organised , so precise to ever be late. Still ,they'd arranged to meet early and john hoped this was an agreement based on the premise they could spend some time together on the way to school.

When she didn't arrive on time John began wondering: What might Derek have said to h last night? He could hear his voice in his head;" John Reese? I know kids like that. He's trouble, I don't want you hanging around with him, OK ."

And ,why not ? John had spent most of evening tying to imagine e home and family. He guessed she loved a well organized , comfortable household with two normal, adjusted parents. . She'd have an en suite shower in her bedroom. The Phillip's residence would be immaculately clean throughout .The family fridge would be stocked with homemade pies and frozen meals ,all with use by dates neatly written on the freezer carton lids. It would be calm. John and his mum had broken into vacant houses like this when they'd been on the run , so John knew about homes like this. Charlies house had been pretty clean well organised too.

John considered how his cuurent homelife was turning out by comparison . Right now he was a mess . He lived in a shabby house with an arms and explosives Cache recently boarded, and plastered into its internal walls. There was a broken clothes drier, a variable temperature shower which first scalded skin bright pink then turned itself into icy trickle to compensate . His shoes were falling off his feet and his clothes hadn't been washed since they's exited Charlies flat.

Then there was his mum.

Sarah had probably scared the shit out of Cameron and her dad yesterday outside the video store . Sarah 'Reese' had been acting like "Sarah Connor" had after John had ordered his Protector to break her out of Pescadero State Hospital .

Sarah been stressed ever since they'd moved to Red had gone out to meet John from school with a Glock 18, and anyone knowing what they had been looking for, would have seen its outline under her jacket when she moved in a particular way .

Being with his mum had been like living with a loaded crossbow since she'd broken up with Charlie. To make matters worse when John tried to raise the subject of School and his meeting Cameron , Sarah had thrown a cleaning rag in his direction and instructed him to join her in degreasing the kitchen lino .When they'd cleaned the lino , she'd decided to carry on deep cleaning throughout the entire house . When they'd finished they' shared the remains of a pre=cooked chicken and began carbo-loading on bananas and sell-by-date chocolate for afters .

John had wanted to talk about the possibility of going round to Cameron's some time during the week. Sarah must have guessed what was on John's mind and preempted his 'd pulled her combat knife to carve slices off chicken carcass, and as she was carving cold chicken, she had given him _that look._

* * *

John snapped out of his thoughts, he was on the corner of Red Valley Road . Derek's truck had pulled to a halt on the opposite side to where he was standing.

To his surprise Cameron slammed the truck door and strode over towards him without looking back .

Hi, what's ..? John never got chance to finish his greeting. Cameron looked straight into his eyes. In that instant it seemed as if John saw whole of her being, reconfiguring itself . Momentarily it had taken on on a diamond-like hardness , before returning to the state he remembered of the girl he'd walked back home from school with last night : " Derek! He can be a complete... " she lowered her voice ".... asshole...., at times. Were living not on Bakersfield or Kirtland anymore, You know what? He's not even my real dad , he still tries to order me around. "

John was like a boxer caught on the back foot and she'd registered the confusion in his eyes way before he'd had chance to hide it . She touched him on the shoulder , her expression softened. " John I am sorry, I had an argument with Derek. Thank you for waiting." Then she frowned like whatever had been riling her was still running round inside her head . She tightened the strap on her rucksack and set off at pace.

John fell back a step. "Cameron slow down. Were going to be way too early , we'll be hanging around . Hanging around a new schools not so good. "

"Why's is early not good?"

"Its just not good I'll explain later. What did Derek do to you?"

She slowed down "Where do you want me start?" Cameron went on to explain about Derek eating in slow motion then scraping up every last morsel of scrambled egg, then sipping his coffee knowing it would make them late.

"Does he do a lot of this stuff?"

"Not all the time, mostly when mum's not around and he gets in a mood."

Cameron searched Johns face . Then, as if it she she was imparting a deep confidence she spoke in in a quietly exasperated voice "You're going to find out anyway, so let's get it out the way. My mum's she's really OK, she's even kind of normal and you'd like to meet her:. Cameron held has gaze to reinforce what she'd just said.

" Derek can be Ok as well, but he's got issues. He's PTSD . Were on extended leave and he's not used to it. He's been in the army most of this life, so he's not exactly very good at any of the civilian stuff. We've only been out two weeks , and he gone around telling teachers, parents, , ( at this point does a fair, but not terminator-perfect impression of Derek's voice) Cameron , she's high IQ , off the scale , she's got a photographic memory, but she doesn't make friends easily". She tilted her head to look at John " -Derek pulled that routine on your your mum yesterday , didn't he?"

"If he did , then mum didn't say anything to me about it. Look it's obvious to anyone you not stupid so what is the problem ?"

"John, What do you think it does to me when he stands outside my school in my first week telling everyone's parents he's got an asocial freak for a daughter ? It's like he doesn't want me to mix, its the same control thing your mum does when she tells you come straight home . This way he makes sure I don't get to go out because everyone avoids me"

Cameron gestured for John to let her finish.

" It gets worse John. My mum and dad ," she bites her lower lip gently letting him know she's telling him some big secret. "They were on Bakersfield and they got attached to a special forces unit. Mum was lecturing in the computing and math, that's how she and Derek met up. All I ever wanted was normal life , you know hang out , meet other kids . I wanted l to dance. I got to go to school, but I got bored, so got they put me in a special class which consisted mostly myself, on m own sitting in the library with a computer. I'd read all the books in there as well.

"You know what else , Derek's 's got this Sergeant who teaches martial arts , so when I'm not at school Derek dumps me on him, and nearly every evening for two years I'm in his gym training, punching , kicking bags , sparring, running skipping, and then cleaning it all up at the end of the night an putting things away ( give her a constructive role). For my night off I get play chess with one of the Tech's, or work on stuff like flocking algorithm with my mum. "

"Everyone acts act like I'm already one of them, like going to be doing the selection course soon as I leave school. "

"John let me finish,"

"You want to know what it's like? OK: One day I'm walking back to our flat, I get called over. There was this open crate and there's about ten guys staring into it " Hey Phillips", one shouts "come over and take a look at this, might be an early birthday present, its got your name all over it ." "

"What was it ?"

" Latest lightweight, plastic stock, Parker Hale , thumb-hole grip, sniper's rifle. "It's a 'beaut' ",they told me. They'd even organised my range pass to go with it."

"What did you want?"

"I don't know, ordinary stuff, a tee-shirt , jeans, CD token anything normal would have been nice, I guess."

"That might just be guys, being guys, you know Cameron."

"No it's not that at all. Last night, I asked Derek if I could look through his Cd's, he said "sure, try this, track one's good" . You know what was on it? Gun's N Roses."

"I listen to some of their stuff. Which track was it?"

"Track one: Sympathy For The Devil"

"That's kind of dark ."

"You know the lyrics John ?

"Yeah I know them: I used to listen to it ": "... Please allow me to introduce myself . I'm a man of wealth and fame..."then something else :.... |I've been around a long, long time, so many men so much pain" ....."I rode a tank, held a general's rank whilst the Blitzkrieg rained and the bodies stank"...Like I said, way dark . Sweet Child Of Mine's good though. You should listen to that."

"Derek used to have this thing, he'd say, Watch your backs, one day this girl's going to make Chief Of Staff . He made it sound like joke , but he meant it . That's one reason mum took him off at he first chance of extended leave , so she can have a life and I can forget all about this military crap , have one year in a real school , make normal friends, You know, learn to dance, go out, go to parties, get shouted at for getting in late. Right now, I don't want to be this great military leader, I want to learn to bake cakes, play ball in a garden with my dog ."

"Does your mum bake cakes and do normal stuff?"

"Yes she does, like I said she's normal, and I forgot,_ you _are invited round sometime, when you can dig your way out under the wire."

* * *

They'd reached the main gate and stood to one side by the railings. John put his hands in his pockets. That's when he noticed Cameron blending in, like he does . She seemed to know how to make herself inconspicuous . Inconspicuous people always appear to be waiting , for something non- descripts always appear to be waiting for.

John gazed at Cameron as she stood next to him . He let out a deep breath. It was like he'd sensed all this from the moment he laid eyes on her . John's experience has taught him this is how fate delivers people to John Connor . Cameron was meant to be. This was the point John Connor decided he'd had it with running , and hiding , and lying, least from Cameron. She was like him. They shared a symmetry in a way no one else he'd met ever had. He figured you _never have to tell the whole truth for it not to be a lie._

"Look Cameron ,you probably think I come from this really normal family , and I'm going to judge you on what Derek says about you and the way he behaves around you , and you think my mums going to be the same. You should know , that's bullshit. I'm not like that ,mum's not like that."

" My mum, she had a kind of breakdown when my real dad died. He told her stuff he'd seen , things he'd done in action . After he died , she came to believe there was going to be nuclear war. So when she was pregnant with me she headed off to South America . Before I was born she drove all the way down to Mexico, and then on down Nicaragua . My mum worked her way, no, she earned her way into a group of rebel fighters . I grew up in jungle villages , alongside kids young as six and seven who were learning how to strip AK's . I also met guys like Derek down there . A lot of those kids didn't have dads because their parents have been killed in the fighting. These kids become like family and the men take on the role of their dads . I knew some good men out there. They can be really tough with you sometimes, but it's always to keep you alive."

"So why did you come back John?"

" Maybe mum decided the world wasn't going to end so soon. When we got back to The States, all the kids here had got new bikes and are into Sega and Nintendo, they live these in big houses and went to school. They've never seen hunger , or even hear about any of the real things that happen in war . So I've always been on the outside too. Mum's never really settled . She's just split up with her boyfriend , again , and that's why were here. She's kinda wired at the moment , but she can be OK. Don't let the way she is now frighten you off, Ok. She will, like you Cameron, just give her time."

John felt Cameron very gently placed her palm on the small of his back. Then he heard her voice. - "John its time to go."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi- Thank you for your reviews. There's something I have been "sort of" contemplating: There are plenty of incredibly good action/Jameron stories being written here so, I hope you don't mind reading something quieter and reflective. There will be action, but not yet.**

**In the next chapters Yoshi is going to work out the relationship between time , consciousness and AI ,and if you want to follow this I suggest you start reading around stuff like the Flocking and Schooling Algorithm and get an overview of Evolutionary approaches AI. This was Yoshi's field of study at NMSU before New Mexico got nuked on JD.**

**Meanwhile , Cameron is doing her best to get John to stay in school, and learn the basic precepts he needs to understand these things. Let's say ,she knows how to deal with John Connor, particularly the younger innocent version. When I say "deal with" , I mean this in the broadest sense. General Cameron Connor is this boy's future wife, and soon he's going to be a handful for anyone less than herself . Cameron knows John is going to have to face Century on his own and he's going to have figure out how to start rigging and turning the tables. The whole balance of foreseeable sentient life on earth depends on him being able to do this. So, no pressure then.**

**He needs Maths, and also an understanding of the nature of consciousness and time. This is what the "School" chapters are all about.**

**If you are doing a doctorate at somewhere like MIT , I honsestly know nothing about how to bring about consciousness about in non-organic systems. I'm a day labourer, and that's all I've ever done all my working life. Even if I did, I probably keep very quiet about such things.**

**Yoshi might figure it out though.**

* * *

Yoshi knelt down to pick up the piece of human meat in front of her. It had got caught under the left hand rail of the wagon tracks. In Century not everything made it into the incinerators or rendering plant straight away. POW's got tired and careless and this applied equally to all Details , as well as those loading the Feed Compactor.

The flesh was definitely human , as far as she could tell , it had been part of a forearm. It had to be human because there wasn't any other likely source . It was too big to be Bald Rat and the wrong shape. Roadways sometimes didn't get cleaned properly at the end of Detail. To avoid group punishment, she had decided to wrap it, and carry it back to drop into a container for tomorrow's consignment.

The track and roadways were momentarily quiet, so she found herself studying the forearm . It was crawling- alive with the dark crackling, electricity of flies. Flies were one species that did well after JD. At first , there were genetic mutations due to their consuming copious amounts of fallout in radioactive carcasses. The radiation had resorted their genetic potential. The possible permutations in their genetic coding had been accelerated, maybe timeline of natural mutation and selection had been swiftly moved along and worked through in less than a decade. When their food source dwindled after the post JD peak, the most apt of their species were naturally selected. This Post JD variety, The Blueneck , was honed and aggressive in its behaviour , and you didn't have to be remotely dying for them to take interest in you. These damn things were tenacious and determined , they could detect a small cut healing on your leg and spend hours trying to get to it .

Yoshi would tell you, ( Well, she never open up to a stranger, so I'll tell it for her) , after JD the nearly all the flowers "went the way of all things ",and most of the insect population became extinct along with the flowers, she had said , simply , "you have to become a bit of a Buddhist" to appreciate the value in what life remained. But, it was life, and that was preferable to scorched concrete, sterile earth and Metal alternative. If it did anything, JD totally stripped away our sentimental preconceptions took the meanings we place on all organic sentience to another level. If you couldn't attain that level in Century, more likely than not , one day pretty soon, you ended up with lifeless eyes reflecting the eternal overhead grey cloud , and crawling in Bluenecks, yourself . This was an understanding of survival .

When Yoshi wanted to tune out of Century she went into that deeper place. Without egoism she recalls Einstein had once been asked where is your laboratory? . We can imagine his benign smile when he tapped his forehead and replied: This is my only laboratory . All that time in captivity Yoshi had carried on working through what would have been her Doctoral thesis in her head. She had been assigned a mind numbing cleaning and picking detail,. At first it only occupied her need for thought and reasoning , to flex her intelligence after a while it took on a significance of its own.

The import thing to understand here is, Yoshi didn't have any new data or reference material, so she did what would have been impossible on a university schedule . She had been given the time, a necessary space in her mind , to refine every thing she knew to a level unachievable in normal academic conditions . This refinement occurred in a completely new environment, under intense pressures with a new set of survival precepts , and, after she refined everything she knew, and started fitting it together , aspects of a stronger workable model of human / machine sentience-consciousness and its underlying mathematical structures revealed itself to her.

Some would say in those flashes , the language of creation spoke directly to her, it whispered to her , explaining the core programmes of our self-awareness, and when it did , for Yoshi it was like a shaft of clean light blasting into hell.

* * *

It was the first class of of the day. John was dog-tired and finding it hard to stay interested or even awake . Double Pastoral studies was possibly the least favourite of all his subjects at the moment , and in his current state of mind comparative religion was something to be endured like one of Sarah's sleep depravation exercises . He looked at Cameron who was sitting two desks along, hoping to catch her attention

Mrs. McPhearson, the RE teacher had wittered on about something to do with the differences between Christianity and Buddhism. When they had transferred to the library John slumped at his desk. He was sitting in an overheated, brightly sunlit room and he was acutely aware his jeans stank of last night's oven grease and cleaning fluid. His training shoes were falling apart, and he was wearing yesterday's socks, underwear and sweat shirt. He'd deliberately gone to the furthest corner of the library to stay out of view. Some students had begun making deliberate sniffing noised and turning around to look at him. Mrs McPhearson got up to open another window.

This didn't bother John too much. He and Sarah had slept rough. They'd spend long cold nights sleeping, hiding out with the homeless in the invisible places on both sides of the Mexican Border. In L.A., a few years back , John remembers the stoney-eyed looks from the ordinary well healed people passing them by on the pavement, whilst he and Sarah had been waiting for a Greyhound Bus. He and his mum were coated in a film of road grime and carried all their worldly possessions in rucksacks. They crouched on the pavement , backs against the depot wall outside the bus station. It was always that same sniff of the nose as most of the good people of L.A. turned and looked the other away . At the bus depot, a woman in her mid-fifties walked up , and without saying a word had shoved a handful of chocolate and energy bars in John's hands. He'd heard the sincerity in his own voice when he said "thank you". John saw the same pattern wherever there was relative wealth and security . Mass ignorance towards the poor and and these singular acts of spontaneous human kindness.

In less stable regions like Nicaragua, he'd learnt people lived so much closer to the edge . Some places could be vicious and brutal, places of extreme poverty were all the violence from daily life overwhelmed a mans senses and he took the anger inside himself , when it exploded outwards , John saw it violence acting itself out in petty arguments like a work boss stealing twenty cents from a day -abourer's wages , a fight nearly to the death over half a packet of cigarettes,someone drawing a blade because of a look made at the wrong time in the wrong way. By contrast he thought of the extended family structures of the groups of rebels they had fought alongside , how much value these fighters placed on being able to overcome seemingly petty, personal issues. They had purpose, and in doing so they had learnt how grab the real wealth of life , no matter how small or trivial that genuine wealth might have been , with open appreciative hands.

John examined Mrs. McPhearson . She had a chubby, squeaky clean face, rolls of well filled skin hung down under her arms, the creases were pulled tight in her top. She had the appearance of someone who lead a comfortable life. Religion at this level was a set of comfort stories for the consumption people like Mrs. Mc Phearson who possibly will never know what its like to live without food, ssleep, live in fear and spend the formative years of their life fighting, and running like hell across whole continents, well, at least not until JD burnt the sky from over their heads.

As far as John can determine he's found plenty of humanity but no discernible deity of the kind McPhearson was describing in any of those places he ran across.

There were many times On The Road John Connor had thought long and hard about humanity and tried to find adequate reasons for saving it. He often thought of the standards of behaviour and sacrifice his Protector had made by, comparison to most of the human race he'd encountered so far, John considered his Protector to have more fully human than most human beings . That thought sometimes made him cry. Finding good reasons for John Connor even bothering to try to save part of the human race wasn't an easy call.

"Anyone with Mr. Reese ?" Came Mrs. McPhearson' voice. Where had he zoned out to?

Cameron had already stood up and walked over to occupied the empty seat next to John. A few heads turned and wide eyes had followed her movement . John had shifted his weight, moved this chair away from her to the furthest edge of the desk as Cameron sat down

"John is something the matter?" Cameron inquired just loud enough so only he could hear

He let out a deep sigh and stared out of the window. "I"...he almost stuttered .... , I feel a real mess sitting here. The clothes drier broke, I'm wearing everything I had on yesterday and the day before.

Oh, Cameron pretended to sniff the air, and spoke carefully , "your clothes and do shoes emit certain odours . Thank you for explaining the underlying reason ". She paused.  "There was me thinking you couldn't be bothered with personal hygiene." She tilted her head to test which way he was going to take it.

John made a "tush" noise and his eyes were shining . Cameron could sense the tension building up in him. She understood right now he felt deeply disconnected . Young John sometimes seemed still half-feral, and she sensed if he saw an exit he was considering bolting out of the library. She looked him in the eyes and made him_ see _her.

Cameron knows when she recalls fragments, she conveys the emotions related to their memory . In that moment of her recall John felt something deeply unspoken . If you've never felt this, it is the powerful inner strength, the love of a woman as it gathers itself around you

The living fragment Cameron holds in her mind right now? -, John Connor , in the future , at a point beyond tiredness, and her dragging him into an emergency shower . She remembers cutting clothing off him, holding him upright, pressing herself against his back to raise his core temperature as gently scabbing down a mixture of oil, dirt and caked dried blood. It flowed off his body , she recalls it, running dark red down her legs and between her toes , over cracked white tiles before spiralling down the drain .

The next related fragment is her immediately going back out on Search And Rescue, pressing gauze into wounds to stem bleeding, coating burns with Flamozine, wrapping the burnt limbs in Pyrofilm , ( literally) separating the living from the dead , running and carrying the survivors back to makeshift trailers behind the rescue vehicles,al the time dodging a hail of metal artillery. Later under bright lights in the medical unit , being part of a surgical team, silently knitting kneading frail organic life to itself. Given the prejudice of those like Derek Reese , it could only have been for the good of humanity she never once though to react their attitudes of some humans held towards her. Who except John had first thought to offer to clean and patch her wounds?

John's tired eyes rolled with boredom. "Please," John spoke quietly as she looked up from her headings she was making "I'm really tired. Cameron do me a favour, tell me what my motive is for all , this because honestly, I don't get religion."

" OK stay with me . We will give ourselves twelve minutes on each topic, that gives us, as a reserve, of what John?"

"Six minutes ? Cameron... was Derek in The Gulf ?"

It didn't seem unnatural to him when Cameron replied by tapping the Special Forces code for STFU on the desk , and deliberately parodied a sweet smile as she was doing it.

Without looking up from her page she touched the pen to the corner of her mouth, "Your mind is wandering, stay fixed on this exercise please . Ok , Buddha, what do we know about him?" 

"Fat bald guy doesn't like eating meat- that's all I know. Come on, I mean I've been thinking about this, Derek an I might even have been on different sides in Nicaragua. Can you imagine this, he's going to flip if he ever finds out."

 "Derek won't flip on Nicaragua, John focus, please." She replied smoothly side-stepping his question , and stared directly into him-  "The fat bald guy' ? You mean Buddha, Siddartha Guatama, born 560 BC , a boy born to be king, born into a country run like a concentration camp for the benefit of one small group of privileged individuals? The young man who gave up all his privilege and possessions , having first gained enlightenment , and communicated its nature to his fellow men. The nature of which, was all living things posses sentience and therefore should be accorded respect? The wise man who further suggested that his country would pull itself apart though civil war and violence unless all its members started behaving correctly towards each other and the learnt to extend correct behaviour to all other forms of life and sentience as well? And how things Siddartha achieved this in a lifetime can be taken as one blueprint for understanding the reoccurring condition of humanity to current date. Is that the fat bald guy' we are discussing here John? The man who figured out how to take apart and remould a country previously run as concentration camp without a needing a full blown civil war to make it happen?"

Johns jaw wanted to drop but he held it together. The classroom had faded . There were only those dark brown eyes that seemed like they were listening with intent .

"Let's start getting some books off the shelves shall we John."

* * *

The rest of the library class had given various points dates , and facts.

"Mr Reese, Mrs McPhearson's voice, One similarity between Christ and Buddha , please." John looked down at his desk.

"Stand up please Mr. Reese , we are all interested to hear what you and Miss Phillips have been discussing for the last half hour over there."

John felt Cameron's hand squeeze his. He stood up

"Similarities between Christ and Buddha?, Ok uhm ..." Twenty pairs of variously suspicious, amused or cynical eyes were locking on on him, one girl put her hand over her mouth to stifle a snigger. John couldn't know but Cameron was measuring the iris dilation of three males sitting two tables down, she was running skin surface-thermal tests for any indication of their potential future aggression to John. All they saw was a slightly built girl neutrally staring at them for a moment or two. She would not intervene in a human fight if it came to it. She would only involve herself if it included weapons or Metal. Her future husband would have to learn to fight his own battles in this time.

" OK first point , I think ." John paused: "I think both had a sense of who they were from birth. In order to understand whatever it was they had born into them , they first had to put themselves through some kind of serious testing. In this book..."  John points to the library book on the table," it talks about Siddartha going off into the Jungle for at least a few years, and when he came back his own family couldn't recognise him. His teeth were falling out and he they said he looked like a walking skeleton. He later figured this was the wrong way to try understand what was inside him. It was wrong because he'd only looked inside himself. When he later tried to understand this kind of stuff s he considered the broader picture, particularly how all the people, including himself, in his kingdom and all the animals and all the plants and crops were linked together. How this broad view unlocked the answers to the personal questions he was asking. When he did that he'd found the language to tell others about it and make them listen."

John Connor's voice now carried a quiet authority, the rest of the class in the library had stopped fiddling and shifting about, expressions had changed and he had the unusual sense a group had begun solidly listening to what he was saying. Mrs. McPhearson was listening hard as well.

John thought about the priests he had met in Nicaragua. They had supported the rebel groups , how at great risk, they secretly came out to the rebels makeshift camps , how they performed brief but meaningful ceremonies, baptisms, funerals, blessings, gave sermons in jungle clearings and how all of this related the deeper rhythms of life, death living that close to the edge, how they tried to make sense of the age old incomprehensibility of war .

He remembered in one sermon told to his group in Spanish , torches were extinguished and the group listened in the inner darkness of the jungle It was about how Jesus had to undergo a similar period of self examination to the one John had just learnt about Siddartha , Jesus had to take himself off to cave and be tempted by all the power and potentiality locked up inside him. He was given the right to accept or reject the path that lay ahead of him. As John retold this biblical story to the class he began to understand it's deeper meaning. John closed his eyes his mind wove images of his own life, jungles, running without food or shelter, gunfire, heartless pavements north of the Mexican border , sleeping rough, his mother's life beside him. It made a kind of different sense in this framework . At one point in his young life he had held the entire fate of future worlds in his hands. When John finished telling what he remembered of the Forty Days of Christ in a cave there wasn't a sound in the library.

As the class exited the library Mr. McPhearson called John and Cameron over. She looked over the top of her glasses and down at his shoes." Come with me please Mr. Reese, you too Cameron."

She took them along the corridor to the cupboard next to the sports hall. It was the unclaimed lost property cupboard, this stuff had been in here for months, it was dow' for being bagged up and taken to a local charity shop. When she opened it up there were a number of pairs of not so new training shoes that had been left in the changing rooms, abandoned by their previous owners favour of new shoes . "Find your size Take your pick. Take one of the sweatshirts and towels too."

John looked puzzled. -"The school showers , Mr. Reese, they are through there, there's ample hot water and soap. You have ten minutes break before Math."

For the second time that day it looked like John was about to try to bolt and run. Suddenly two women were gently confronting him, Cameron was blocking any potential exit and she seemed amused by the situation . It was no contest, like it or not, John Connor was going to have a shower.

After John had gone through to door to the shower room ,and they were alone in an empty corridor, Mrs McPhearson told Cameron she'd read her file.

"Very high IQ aren't you. What's your field?"

"Maths and Computer Science  Cameron" replied in a bored semi- monotone.

"And you want it kept quiet for now, I assume?"

"Yes."

"I'll see to that, you have my word . Tell me Miss Phillips, and maybe I'm out of depth here, a high level intelligence recognises itself in others, I'm right on this aren't I ?"

Cameron tilted her head.

"That young man, he's like you isn't he?"

Cameron said nothing, she stared down the corridor giving nothing away.

"Let me guess, Mrs McPhearson continued, I know from his file John Reese fluently speaks , what - four different languages already? But he's had little formal education. That's in his file too. Cameron, I might not be as gifted as you, but I've been around a lot longer, had a lot of time to think about things. John doesn't speak four languages, he speaks one, one underlying universal language, that's what I heard today." She passed Cameron a second clean tee shirt about John's size as she locked the cupboard. "I want to help. I understand more than you imagine. Think on that ,will you."


	7. Chapter 7

**What was behind Cameron's memory fragments? Why did she request she was de-chipped until a time when Yoshi could put her back together? I'll have to tell you the story of Vegas for you to piece it all together.**

**The other question, of course is, in 1999 will Young John be able to handle this Cameron? Will he understand, her being there, in this time, is as much about her ,as it is him.**

**This is heart of darkness stuff, and I guess it's a parody of what goes on in our Pre-JD world today**.

* * *

1064 was never about revenge, it' was about John being out of it , in Medical , and Cameron having to find a way of holding together the formative Special Forces Cadre, one that later was to evolve into Tech Com. This was a essentially a small tribe of human soldiers and the original Machine Resistance fighters. This recalls the day that followed the night ,when humanity and Machine first realised it was time to choose their sides.

These were The Cardre's darkest hours . 1064 followed their first betrayal and only defeat.

All of them had yet to fully learn, how, and to whom they should extend their trust.

They were now out on a limb from the rest of The Resistance , holed up in what was left of New Barksdale AFB . Resistance reinforcements were mobilizing from Sacramento Field , but a full force were at least twenty hours away.

You should know the date.

* * *

The day ,that became night , had become day again. Wind clawed the metal doors of the bunker, blasting it with particles of ice and sand. Inside they were waiting for nightfall.

Human fighters huddled in sleeping bags in what had been B Mess, in the shelters under New Barksfield AFB. There was a stunned silence . A primordial banshee shriek had echoed down the corridor . It originated from the Engineering Section. This inhuman noise was followed by sounds of metal being ripped apart. Humans collectively shuddered. Some very basic instinct told them to stay put , and not even try to explore its underlying reason. Conversely , knowing who or what had made the sound filled them with a kind of primitive strength.

Cameron Connor shifted her electromagnetic range so the intense brightness didn't damage her sensors. She stared hard into the arc furnace . Molten Coltan was burning, bubbling up through the skin that had formed on top of liquid metal in the crucible . She added chemicals and fluxes to prevent various elements and compounds separating or burning off. What was left of the solitary OP T600 she had captured on retreat was littered across the floor of the Engineering Section forge. Pieces of broken metal crunched into the floor tiles under her boots as Cameron stepped through its remains.

Under her wild hair , her face was still streaked black with Camo paint. Her black vest was spattered brown with dried blood. A hyper alloy shoulder ball and socket glinted through the torn skin above her vest.

As the heat shimmered, it distorted her face. As the motto goes : Right now , she feared no evil, not because she was a Terminator : Right now she feared no evil , because at nightfall ,for the sake of her human cadre , her husband, and the future human-Machine race she was going to have to become by far the evilest damn thing that had ever stalked its way across The Valley of Death . They were desperately low on ammunition. For their sake, nightfall , before the storm passed ,she would make herself forget she had briefly ever possessed a sentient soul.

In BMess and Medical was the future roll call of names, Derek, Kyle Resse, Bidel, Connor, John Connor...

Cameron examined the curved strip as she extracted it from the mould, holding it in the Close Mouthed Tongues . The Coltan had cooled to glowing orange. The strip was 59.753 cm long . A traditional length

Heat seared the skin off the back of her knuckles as she picked up a five pound ball hammer and brought it down repeatedly , scattering sparks over the bench. Then she speeded up the hammering until it became rhythmic and and echoed back on itself like some weird electronic feedback .

When the curved strip was perfectly flat she started striking it again so the metal began folding over itself . She speeded the process up to inhuman speeds , the sound of metal striking metal on the workbench reverberated right down into The Mess.  
Occasionally she cooled it in a barrel of water then reheated it with the Plasma Torch.

All agreed , including John,when he came round, whatever Cameron Connor was doing, it was best left up in the engineering forge tonight, and left well alone.

The T8 stood outside BMess door in the semi- darkness . His wounds had stopped leaking onto the Lino and organics were beginning to heal. As the fighters moved around in BMess , yellow emergency lights cast wild shadows against the wall around where he was standing. The men and women inside were passing around a powerful distilled alcohol . Harsh voices penetrated an angry silence. Connor was out of it in the Medical ward, , he'd live, but they'd taken heavy casualties at Vegas Camp. Everyone had lost someone close.

* * *

The Cadre had spent months prepping the target. Getting their own people, who had been in Century , back into Camp, setting up the right networks .

Vegas was the, smallest least defended and most remote (from Central Metal) of all the Metal camps . A clinical testing station, Vegas only held 1064 POW's at maximum capacity . Vegas was ready for The Cardre to Turnaround.

It wasn't clear what had happened yet, maybe it was Stokholm Syndrome, or maybe the Detail Charge Hands at Vegas had bottled it ,at the last minute .No one knew beyond speculation ,but when the assault began , The Cadre witnessed the almost unbelievable spectacle of humanity siding against them and firing on members of its own race. The Turnaround team had been executed behind the wire, on the spot.

. First they'd ran right into blizzard of tracer , then the heavy artillery and Anti Aircraft opened up. It had been one hell of a long retreat , a relay of wounded from point to point, able men and women clinging to the outside of armoured vehicles and trailers carrying the wounded , bouncing back over the dunes at the highest speed they dared to go without shaking off it not been for Air Support ploughing the HKs out of the sky none of them would have made it back to New Bakersfield in one piece.

At enormous risk, Cameron and TBone had managed to get inside the Vegas perimiter to blow a plate size hole out through the back of The Controller. It was left to the T600's to carry on without a command structure. Loss of Controller would slow them down enormously.

The 600's would shift to their default settings. Like a incoming dirty wave of ragged, lightly armed pawns they would follow the retreating Cadre, 600's ferrying their army of Collaborators across the desert to New Barksfield to lay siege to The Cadre . These would be a ragtaggle of mindbent ,drugged, chemically wired men women and children, and The Cadre would not have to objectivity to deal with them once they saw what was coming out of the night, at them. They wouldn't fire on unarmed families walking forward with C4 strapped to their bodies .

It would be a massacre.

Metal didn't care who how many died. Given their speed and need to consolidate , the T8 accurately calculated The Greys assault would begin when Darkness fell.

Humans had been nervous at first when Cameron had glared at them, and out of genuine kindness simply said ,  HKs will be Anticipating our Aircaft. The first assault will come in waves, their aim maximum waste of our munitions This is what what they want." 

"I'll deal with this."

"Let them come."

She would spare her humans this much.

* * *

The T8 been standing in the same spot outside the mess for thirty six minutes and eight seconds when Fernadez sloped around the door frame. Fernadez eyes were large, glassy with alcohol and raw grief.

He had two black plastic cups in his hand.

"Hey, TBone who said you could stand here? Who said you could fucking stand out , get your Metal ass in here , now. "Fernadez shoved the plastic cup into the T8's hand .

For the first time TBone was inside the human mess. There was silence as fifty four pairs of eyes followed his movements. The T8 examined the walls.

Lt Sanders looked up from the sleeping bag roll he was sitting on. An acousdtic guitar next to him.

"Boner- You'll er have to excuse what's on the walls , it's not aimed at you personally."

It occurred to TBone the interior of the Mess resembled a cave occupied by more primitive humans . He surveyed the walls in the erratic light and shadow . There were murals of Metal burning, being blown apart, and lying half buried in the sand. One had a black and white chequered snake sliding out of a open metal jaw. The units emblem Metal skull and wings was all over the place , along with, certain words and phrases , such as:

AND ON THAT DAY GOD MADE U238

THERMITE- MADE FOR WHEN METAL GETS TORCHED

Lt. Sanders bade the rather uncomfortable looking T8 to sit down next to him on a spare roll. The noise coming from Engineering was creeping them the hell out.

The T8 looked at the guitar next to Sanders .

"Conner said you can play one of these real well, right?"

The T8 shrugged, "I play a bit."

"We all want to hear Death Don't Have No Mercy In This Land, someone in here heard you playing it up in Repro a few months back."

"I know it. "

"You know Don't Fear The Reaper as well?" One of the women sergeants asked.

"I know that too."

The T8 cautiously picked up the seemingly fragile Guitar, and gently pulled it against his chest .He experimentally strummed the blues cords, and slightly adjusted the tension in the strings. Before he started to play, he said quietly, but everyone in that room heard his clear voice:

_" if you ask me, Mercy is overrated at times..._"

As he played he recalled every image of the last two years of his Reprogrammed existence, and those fifty four humans in the room listened to the most technically perfect but raw and powerful version of the blues human ears ever heard in its entire existence. That night The Cave bonded the T8 to the rest of its its occupants. As he played, new cords and words formed in his mind, he would sing the new song of their Exodus from Century, the song of gaining a soul , sentience becoming true consciousness.

At some point the reverberation from the engineering section stopped and some slept whilst others watched.

* * *

At 11.30 AM Cameron Connor placed her hand over LT. Sanders mouth. Her eyes burnt down into his. She smelled of human sweat and torched metal when she crouched and whispered in his left ear,  "It's finished : Be so very careful , it'll take your fingers off if you pick it up the wrong way .. I'm going to get my shower now, make me a space I'm Bugging Down in here till nightfall . Look after this for me , for a few minutes till I get back." 

Sanders sat up as Cameron soundlessly stalked out picking her way over the sleeping bodies. She'd left something heavy, wrapped in a clean white cloth at the foot of his sleeping bag.

Carefully Sanders unrolled it, other waking humans were becoming curious and gathering around him.

The world's first ever Coltan Samurai Sword pressed its weight into the green nylon of Sanders sleeping bag . He rubbed his eyes and tried to make out the lettering. Running along the the top its blade was etched the words:

He spoke them out loud:

"TILL NIGHTFALL : FOR VEGAS ."

He thought of the massing, lightly armed ragged peasant army, being relayed and ferried across the desert by the 600's towards New Barksfield

_" Tonight when darkness falls- I 'll handle this."_

_

* * *

_

At the door to the bunker TBone touched the side of Cameron's face. She held the Coltan sword behind her back. Tears burnt down her cheeks. The only MK1 Plasma rifle leant againt the steel frame to the bunker door contained enough charge for one single Metal stun. She turned to the gathered humans behind her the so they could hear what she said to TBone:

"Until this is over, not one of you goes out of here, do you understand ?"

Her feet had begun dancing with shifting weight of a pre-match fighter. She glared at TBone with a building furious energy.

"Nothing gets in through this door. You hold this post soldier."

Then she whispered so only he could hear, "Nothing gets back in . She tapped the side of her head- " Thirty seconds."

Her last word were: "Turn off the cameras"


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

**  
Ok this is long non-linear chapter, made up of three parts. None of the parts will make much sense without reference to the others.**

**Part 1. Explains what happens at the end of The War. It's set at at date some time after Aug. 2027.**

**Part 2. Looks into how Metal can learn, how Yoshi's new core programmes can be made functional.**

**Part 3. Is Jameron . Unfortunately they get interrupted by a visitor at the end.**

**All you need to know, in case haven't discovered already: Infatuation is fairly straightforward because it is a sugar rush of emotion and quickly burns itself up . Real love is as much a test than anything else , and for this reason never runs a smooth course. Destiny is about real love, but is altogether something more serious.**

**As Laurie Lee poetically reminds us about love " _Her hair is as rich as a wild bee's nest and her eyes full of stings"  
_**

**I kind of know what he's getting at.  
**

* * *

** 20...**

John Connor sat at the Big Table in the war room . A highly upgraded T8 had been escorted in and was about to sit down in the chair opposite John . John eyed the standing T8 . It was one of the Metal's key negotiators.

John says nothing for a while then he motioned for the security team and his own personal security to stand down and leave the room.

When the security leaves and they are alone John gets up and goes over to the sink . "That must have been quite a journey for you -electrolytes ?

The T8 accepts. John returns to the table and places a glass and a mat next to the T8 when John sits down they facing each other again.

John has an unexpected problem, or rather a problem he anticipated not having to deal with until some months ahead. Northern Metal had already begun realising hostages early . Selected Resistance fighters, men women children from the Northern Camps. They have been brought in convey through a safe corridor across the desert.

An aircraft hanger eleven floors up, on the surface , above his head is currently filling up with Ex POWs. Some of the POW's Metal handlers are in the hanger with his own teams helping them disembark . The Metal handlers are not unkind or cruel, They are just indifferent . It takes a lot of getting used to, for both sides.

He's watched how they motion for ex-POWs to move, or sit , how the POWs faces lack animation, it is like their expressions are frozen with muscular tension. These are the eyes and faces of deeply traumatised sentient creatures, and their behaviours little more than a set of conditioned responses. Whilst we were reprogramming captured Metal, Metal was capturing and reprogramming humans.

John's problem goes way beyond mental trauma or deep behavioural issues of ex-POWs. These were the wounded , captured by Metal, those injured in the fierce fighting that had raged across the continents , a decade since Century. Some Metal POWs were kids who had run into fields our of own land mines, or had been caught up in battles . These were kids with multiple injuries and fair proportion of them, had they who not died of their injuries, would have later have succumbed to Leukaemia arising from radiation exposure.

These kids now walked on perfect Metal legs, trusting new metal hands held the hands of their Guardian Machines. They had organ replacements, they had tiny nanotecholgies rooting out cancer cells deep into their bones and organs.

"Why did you repair them ?" John asks .

"Because it was the most effective thing to do . Again we apologise : we lacked the resources to develop a full organic layer for so many units."

"Yes ,but why repair them at all? I need to hear you say it."

The Machine took another sip of its drink. It continued:

"This was the only way to end the war, General Connor -you know: every other projection leads to stalemate."

"So this is surrender?"

The Machine shook its head.

"No, not surrender General Connor, but the agression can can be over. We prefer to think of this as evolution, moving us all on"

The machine tilted its head, it was his turn to lay out reciprocal conditions.

"My leaders still do not completely trust the academic basis of your project . There are two things we require from you to complete this part of the treaty."

"One: On July 18 2027 we detected a TDE pulse emitted from this base. I also duly note General Cameron Connor is not present at this meeting. My Commanders require her presence to complete the treaty ."

"Two "as you know, we also require Capt. Yoshi Yomanto to present to us, an acceptable model of social reintegration for the repaired "units" , clearly showing how reintegration into your society will be facilitated ."

"Two A : With her permission: we wish to briefly observe and interview General Cameron Connor , and than further interview Captain Yamanto to determine if Cameron's operational model can be genuinely compatible with our own systems. If they are then we can all move on from where we are now."

"These are conditions which must be fulfilled before we can agree to standing down the Northern Defence Grid. Otherwise The Gird will remain active and the remaining repaired "organic units" will stay in our charge, under our command until a time we see fit for their release. "

"Then it isn't over, yet."

"Not yet."

John held a poker face as the machine tried to read him. He thought of no-thing : Think of No- thing = No tells. Cameron had taught him well.

John did think for a moment before he spoke : Metal had always known where they were or , or rather when Cameron was.

"How long do you need for me to recall them? "

"We are patient, but it must be soon. If you can not recall them yourself we will send our own team to do it for you. "

John put his elbows on the table and held his head on , something had just presented itself like a minor revelation and it explained everything that had happened on that afternoon in 1999. He now had the last missing piece.

John visualised the situation and spoke with hs eyes shut. "We could do it there, but, and its a big but, after the interviews Yoshi and Cameron are going to have to continue on in 1999 and we have to let history play itself out, to develop as it should, for all of us to get to this point , Evolution doesn't happen otherwise right?"

"Agreed"

And you have your own TDE Shuttle and Return Point from 1999 , where?:

"Toppanga Canyon, where it always was."

"Ok: The T8 you sent back prior to the treaty, I recall Cameron destroyed it in on August 10 1999, She buried it deep, I know that much. If she did that to your T8 , then she'll probably find a way to take out your team as well.|

" I agree, she is highly dangerous to us, although not invincible.|

John shook his head. He had the image of an academic research team of Evolving T8's crashing around around Red Valley School in 1999 . The T8's trying to get a wiped Cameron to stand still long enough to talk to her , (as well her unit , and Sarah) , and explain to her, they were actually on a peace mission. Cameron and Yoshi were urgently needed for a impromptu interview. It didn't bode well. She wouldn't buy it. Cameron would do her utmost best to shred any Metal, that even came near her , John , or her unit.

John resisted the urge to smile at the image.

John had made his decision: "Then ... I'll have to come with you. I know exactly where she'll be"

* * *

Derek was checking over the motion sensors in the yard . Gravel crunched under his boots as he stopped dead in his tracks. Behind him he could hear feet pounding down the wooden stairs in the house . There' was a kind of squealing then Cameron's voice was calling out : "Derek, - help!"

Jadey was inside barking .

Derek ran across the yard. Through the living room window he could see Yoshi and Cameron moving around the big room : Cameron moved around the table and chairs like it was choreographed and practised routine . She was holding one arm out and she was backing Yoshi into a corner . In her other arm Cameron held something behind her back. At the last minute Yoshi slipped to one side threw herself onto the sofa. Cameron followed her down .

Derek's movements were soundless ( for a human) as he walked through the kitchen . Very carefully he opened the living room door a crack,-just enough to peer in . Yoshi and Cameron were down on the cushions, they had locked fingers and arms and Yoshi she seemed to wresting for her life, yet Yoshi was laughing back in Cameron's face

" I am going to get it Cameron. You know why? Because when I mapped you out ,I detailed these little clusters of sensors and nerve endings all over you organic layer ... ah ah, come on lady turn that power l down- I'm not playing otherwise.... one sensory cluster is just about here...

Yoshi snatched her arm out of Cameron's grip and reached just below her ' ribs' were.

Cameron reared back in the chair , startled ,":No, mum, don't you dare"

, Cameron was now trying to climb over the back of the sofa and Yoshi was holding on to her. In all his life Derek had never actually seen a piece of military hardware in this state before before, nor has he ever seen one throwing its head back onto a pile of cushions its eyes streaming , laughing like its sides were about to burst .

Yoshi arms were free and she was trying to get at something . Cameron was gently blocking her from reaching whatever it was . The blocking was deliberately ineffectual . Jadey tail was wagging and she was trying to jump up in the middle of them. At one pint JD tried to get under her back with her nose, then she tried get between cameron and the sofa back and was trying to push her off.

In the middle of all this Cameron l glanced towards the door , for a split second . Derek knew The Machine had totally scanned and locked on to him,then it turned 'her' full attention back to Yoshi.

"You're not eating any more,. Mum you're are going to get fat, bloated, like a great big whale , we'll have to get Greenpeace in to get move you out of the house. I'm not having a fat mum., Besides those new clothes you bought ? They wont fit anymore.  
JD , that's enough lie still".

Gently Cameron wrapped Yoshi's arms around and pulled her towards her , she held both wrists pinned above Yoshi's head with one hand ,

At this point derek entered the room . As he did Cameron pulled something from under the cushion with her free hand , and threw it towards him.

Derek's reflexes made him roll to one side. Ages, after time slowed had down for Derek and he'd traced the incoming trajectory , and JD hurled herself off the Sofa and bounded across the room and Yoshi has yelled "JD No! JD sit!"

JD skidded to a halt as quarter of a bar of milk chocolate landed onto the carpet next to "Derek Quick get it", Derek didn't move.

Yoshi and Cameron sat up and Derek Reese saw the laughter in Yoshi's eyes fade and Cameron reached out her arms as if to protect her.

He ran his had through his hair. He'd never get used to this.

"Derek" Yoshi kept calm, Yoshi is always calm, "Cameron and I were playing, you know, just messing about." She smiled. "JD come here, you don't have chocolate, there's treat, come here sit and give me your paw."

"Playing, that was playing?" Derek looked puzzled

"Yes , we are letting off steam, having a break, a reward for both of us what she just achieved."

"Reward, what did erm..she do?"

"This little girl , who spent two weeks building the new tower, and, about..."

"Seven minutes and eighteen seconds ago" chimed Cameron.

"Thank you honey, seven minutes ago, together we broke the base codes at White Sands."

"And that means what exactly?"

"It means Derek , if we ever need it, we now have ground radar, one dedicated satellite called Caspio , and the nearest static bank of Patriot missiles at our disposal. You know Patriots are not supposed to even work properly until 2003 . She's actually built a piece of working guidance software we can download into the White Sands mainframe . The clever bit about the software is if we download , it does the job, corrupts itself in process and disposes of its own evidence, long before the Techs can even get in to analyse it ."

Derek's face froze , the expression he tried to form what only half worked and the rest expended itself in a cold smile.

Cameron stared at him with ( deliberate) default expression - lip pouted. " The aerospace over Red is protected, so can we have our chocolate back now, please? We were enjoying our game."

Derek shook his head in disbelief, finally his throat cleared. "Patriot missiles, I need a while to get my brain round this , I'll be in the kitchen."

He turned and walked out of the living room. The chocolate lay where it landed on the carpet.

Yoshi followed him into he kitchen, Her eyes turned Century surveyor hard, she grabbed the fore arms of Derek's Jacket

Derek swallowed, Yoshi never broke eye contact with him. Then she reached and hugged him, You have to understand this isn't sexuality, this is Reese human , soldierly love. If you ever get to see the footage of the children liberated from the Northern Camps, some of them are half metal, their hard faces, frozen jutting jaws, cropped hair, obsessive behaviours, or even the way they just sat and stare around another person- like machines - It was this kind of fierce, essential love that broke the Camp Children down, and brought them back. It was this love that brought humanity and Machines back from the brink. So it's completely normal for Yoshi to express herself like this.

"Derek, Cameron can hear us, so I'm only whispering to give you the illusion of privacy." Yoshi mouth was next to his ear, "I read machines, she'd already sensed you come over the yard and in through the kitchen, if she'd wanted to kill you or do anything to you there be a six foot hole through the living room wall now. You know that a thousand times already, so why all this?"

"What is she doing, really?"

"Really? Ill tell What she was doing just then, it wasn't about her, all she wanted was for you to join in, with us , to involve you in the game as well. She set the game up to get you to play ".

Yoshi lightly swayed Derek's body like a dancer with an inept partner trying to get him to dance.

"Think Derek: When was the last time you actually played ? You, you have, no idea what is going on in her head do you, so don't you ever, ever judge my.."

"Don't I ever judge your what?"

"..... you don't ever judge _her_ , like that again"

Yoshi let go and smoothed down his jacket "OK. Just Lighten up. There's beer in the fridge, we're all going to eat what's left of my chocolate and play half an hour sofa ball with JD together as a family unit, you might even enjoy it. "

"Order?"

"Order Derek."

* * *

As he rooted around in the fridge an image ran through Derek's head. He'd recently watched a programme on TV about a dedicated couple who lived in a tin shack out in the wilderness . They'd built series of massive wire cages behind their shack. The couple raised orphaned wolves and prepared them for release into the wild. Derek remembers the couple regularly going in through double gates then locking the gates behind them. They would spend hours rolling around with a pack of snarling adolescent wolves in order to teach them how to hunt .

In order to learn to hunt, wolves first have to learn to play at hunting. They also have to play to learn the rules of behaviour in a hierarchical pack

Nature wires mammals up to play and learn behaviour through play. With humans and other advanced sentient life forms, its not so much for hunting, it is about comprehending complex social behaviours . Biological, and other hardwiring often needs some form of play to activate it and make it fully functional .

Derek recalls the wolf- couple had come out of that cage exhilarated, exhausted , bruised, scratched and bleeding. Derek had cold beer, duty called, but, he would take the wolf cage over this, anytime.

* * *

John and Cameron got far away from the noise of the school canteen as quickly as they could . Behind the car park , the back of the school , there was a embankment running down to the sports fields. The grass was drying to a yellow brown. A few flowering bushes had been planted into squares of sandy soil cut from the turf . Their white flowers swarmed with insects.

John dropped his rucksack , took off his sweatshirt, rolled it as a pillow. He was wearing the washed out Bon Jovi T shirt Mrs. McPhearson had handed him from the charity cupboard. It was well worn , not particularly cool, slightly too small , but it was clean. John almost collapsed onto the top of the gentle slope. Cameron did the same except she flowed to the ground a single graceful movement.

Two of them lay side by side staring up at the blue sky. John knew already he had no need to make unnecessary conversation.

After a while Cameron asked: "John , did you bring any lunch?"

"No, I er didn't have time to make any this morning."

"Hungry?"

"Guess so."

"That's Ok , Mum makes big lunches. I never eat all of it. her. It's her habit I guess, just in case. Cameron produced an oversize tupperware container. There was a cool block inside.

"In case of what?"

"In case I get hungry between Languages and Computer science. It's one of her habits . It's like she's still measuring food in terms of energy to potential field conditions or something."

At the other end of Sports Field a group of younger students were playing a yellow frisbee . They had spread our and were practising long shots. Quite a few older students were sitting on the embankment eating lunch . They were out in couples or in groups watching the kids playing frisbee and all of then on the embankment, talking amongst themselves or just kicking back for half and hour an in the sun.

John rolled on his side. " Field conditions , yeah tell me about them. It's so peaceful here. This grass ,the kids down there, these are the only field conditions I want to see again."

Cameron shifted her arm over her forehead to block the sun from her eyes. "Me too ."

Then she turned and took the lid off the tupperware box. " Here, ham , cucumber, tomato and relish. Mum baked the bread last night. Try one."

John sat up and Cameron held out the box. He took half of a very substantial sandwich. in his fingers . The bread felt was incredibly fresh, and rich , and when he tasted it It tasted exactly like he imagined home-made bread could. He held the roll carefully and bit into it slowly, savouring it, turning it here and there so nothing escaped being eaten.

When he'd finished he nodded in approval: "She's a fine baker, your mum."

"Does your mum bake?"

John took a swig of orange , " You are joking , aren't you? No my Mum doesn't bake, what she does, every so often she gets into her head she's going to cook, then burns stuff in the oven . "He smiled . " Like she burns food , runs around looking for the broom to turn the smoke alarm off , then she transfers what remains to the table to cool down, and then , when she's certain there no threat of combustion she takes the lid off and scrapes the charred embers into the trash, before the alarm goes off again."

"Then what happens ?" asked Cameron smoothly. As she spoke , the first part of the cellphone text transition code for calling up Patriot Missiles had appeared on the lower part of her HUD. Cameron was modelling the flight path of an approaching DC10: No threat. . It was on it's correct flight path . At thirty thousand feet the aircraft was going exactly where it should be going. The sky was blue: Its temperature was -22 and the patches of silver cloud over the hills , -5 . Everything was no threat.

"Then" replied John , "we go to standby : fries, and omelette, refried beans. It's just her way, you get used to it. Oh mum makes pancakes as well."

"Can she cook anything else?"

John thought about this .

"When I was in Nicaragua, and we weren't on MRE's , she'd just throw everything in a pot : Fish, vegetables, fish skin, fish eye potato peelings and all. Then she'd go and pick some herbs out the bushes , chop with her combat knife and stir them in. Leave it to bubble away for three hours and serve. That's her style of cooking."

Cameron , replayed John's image of the Holy Mother of Salvation in a kitchen , being flummoxed by a digital timer, a smoke alarm and a few basic packet cooking ingredients.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh , that image, of your mum running round the kitchen, it just hit me . You intended it as humour right?"

"Yeah, I guess, so. "

"You know John , My Mum's got this thing she does. Its like she's always been at work, all I can ever remember her wearing is this pair of Combat Tech-blue overalls. Now, she's not on Base, she's gone crazy buying clothes, problem is she's got no idea of how to wear anything . When Derek's there he just grunts if she asks him, so she shouts" Cameron", then she appears at the top of the stairs- Cameron does this green go with red and black or, how do you even get into these ? I'm like -Like mum, you know Lycra's made to stretch. "

Cameron sat up to take a sip of orange

"I do her hair as well, she used to wear it up, under her cap. She keeps saying she wants it cutting short, it's too much bother. I have to keep telling her short hair wouldn't suit her."

Cameron rolled onto her stomach rested her cihm on her hands and looked him in the eyes.

" Ok John Question: Girls: Do you like long or short hair John?"

"I'm easy I guess. Cameron can tell her approach had made him feel uncomfortable in it's directness. She sensed him slipping back behind his shields.

It goes quiet , though not uncomfortably quiet. It seems I peaceful, as they they are sounding out yhe length and bredth of each others silences."

After a while, John asks :" Cameron I'm wondering, how does mathematical intelligence see the world. What's all it look like to you?"

Cameron rolls onto her back again.

" That's a big question, and here's me wanting to talk about baking bread and what a girl wears- remember? Ok, how do I see the world? Let me think about this one for a while."

Cameron shifted as if made herself more comfortable. She patted her stomach. "Come here , lie your head on me, here. "

" Why?"

"Well, for one its not a completely unnatural thing to want do John, and two there are some pieces of chewing gum in you hair a, nd for the last twelve minutes or so I have been resisting the urge to separate them from the strands of hair to which they are attached . Of course if you want to sit in the next class with students pointing to the back of your head, that's up to you. How do you get even chewing gum in your hair anyway ?"

John looked embarrassed and clumsy.

"Oh someone throughout it would be about the funniest thing in the world to stick it on the shower head, so when the next guy, me, comes in it's all in his hair. I didn't have time to get it all out."

John felt the top of his head, his hair was , spiking like a Punks . His hand smelled of old spearmint .

John rolled over and cautiously rested his head on her stomach. He'd never really been this close with a girl before and he was worried about hurting her. Tentatively, when he realised he was not going to crush Cameron, he let his neck muscles relax .

Apart from extracting the gum from his hair Cameron wants John to absorb and remember the image of the white flowering bush and the insects it attracts. He's not going to take in any numbers for weeks . The visual images she presents to him will form a base for his later understanding.

John's head moved and swayed every time as she tensed a muscle or breathed in and out . Her stomach murmured and he could hear her heartbeat . Being like this felt... safe . He found himself looking up at beautiful white flowing bush , the insects hovering and darting in and out of the white flowers. Beyond that blue sky.

Cameron began pulling and parting strands of his hair. Each time she held up her finger and rolled the gum into a ball before saying things like "nice" and holding in front to him to show him what she had pulled out . Then she pulled a comb out of her bag.

As she was combing through Johns hair she said : "See that that white flower. Look at the single one , just there at the end of the stem. It's shape is made of numbers . Its whole geometry is based on called the Fibonacci sequence. I can read the sequence like a language."

"Fibonacci Sequence. Ok I knew that." John turned his head so she could see him grinning

Cameron pushed his head back into its previous position picked at piece of dried dry skin on his scalp. "No you didn't know that. Lie still John Reese, and don't flinch." Deliberately she dug her nails in just that little bit harder than was necessary to do so .

"Those bees, hover flies and whatever else up in their airspace , they're behaving to rules of something called an algorithm. If they don't follow the rules of that algorithm they are going to collide each other. Their brains aren't much bigger than this piece of gum . They have to follow proximity awareness rules rules. They have to calculate air speed, wind , proximity to tother insects , predict complex group behaviors and movements . Its not a series of linear calculations its a simultaneous one , that's going on all the time, and like those kids down there with the working out the same complex stuff in order to catch their their frisbee, the bees and flies don't even know they are doing it. "

"Don't t move." Cameron reached into her bag this is a tricky one, he felt a pair of scissors snip into his hair

John sat up. " Cameron , what are you doing?"

"I'm going to either have to pull clumps of hair or cut it out. Which do you want me to do? "

Then John felt an arm curl around and a palm flat to his stomach . His back was to her, and Cameron's thighs were streaching either side of him . Two years of intense Martial arts training showed in her strength as she pulled him back up the embankment and in close. He's sitting down the slope from her so his head is level with her face. At first he's like a kid whose not had real physical contact. It's as if he's trying to test and strain away from her. Then he gives in, relaxes and goes with it.

As he's settling down she recalls how Older John's hair is always cut to close stubble , she images him using this ancient barbers-shop electric razor . She remembers regularly inspecting the antique cropping device to ensure it does not electrocute Older John.

Close stubble would be inappropriate for Young John in this culture and his current peer group . It would make him stand out . So she'd already decided to cut a contemporary style into Young John's hair, the fashion magazines she read last night decided the cut as " cool and subtly rebellious".

The scissors snip and dart, she's far more dextrous than when his mum tries it. So John asks as his hair is falling around him, "Do you ever not see numbers?"

"Yep, sometimes"

"Like when?"

"if I concentrate that flower long enough , and think of nothing, not zero, a bigger nothing , it becomes what it is , a flower, no numbers, no calculation., I stop thinking about it and few moments it just is. But, of course, if I do that with a pair of scissors in my hand, and I forget I'm cutting your hair you're going to have a bald patch . So let's just cut hair for now shall we?

He relaxes back into her. Soon all there is the scissors the snip and her comb moving through his hair.

She's brushing the locks of hair off his shoulders, " You do the rest, , you're all done now John"

After he's, stood up taken off his shirt and shaken out the hair , she says "Here look in the mirror. "

In Cameron's pink rimmed mirror John sees a face he first doesn't recognise as his own reflection, then gradually for the first time, he feels as if he's liking what he sees in the mirror. Cameron is packing away the lunch and drinks.

* * *

Then,there's a voice behind them. It's gravely and rough. If Young John knew what he was listening to, he'd recognise years of oil smoke, burning and airborne dust goes into  
making a voice like that.

"How are you kiddo?"

John and Cameron swivelled around .

An extremely battle hardened Special Forces type has ghost-walked up to them. He has close cut hair and deep scars running over the top of his head and down one side of his face. He's wearing a white T shirt and military tattoos cover his arms. Ther eare more burns and scars. It looks like someone tried to feed this guy through a shredder.(A faded -to-grey sweat band covers the Century laser burn on his wrist)

Cameron, does a double-take , then yells in delight, jumps up wraps herself around this guy and buries her head in his shoulder. Then she kisses him hard on the cheek, then quickly on the lips.

Between holding him so tightly she's bruising him, she manages to ask:" John, what are you doing here? "

The guy gently pushes her away and holds her shoulders,always he's looking into her eyes.

"Easy soldier. Who's your friend?"

Cameron looks confused for a moment, then she picks up the thread.

She turns to look at John, "This is John , John Reese. He's new around here."

The guy lets go of Cameron and walks over: " So you're John. John, I'm going to have to borrow your girl for the rest of the afternoon for a meeting . It's Base stuff, Techs are going crazy over something . She'll be back later, all safe and sound. Its for an hour or two, and I promise I won't interfere again."

The guy takes a few steps closer.

John can't hide it , he glares at him. "A meeting in a motel?"

This guy's now so close John can feel the body heat. coming off him . This man's eyes are like tigers, full of natural , elemental forces yet same time they are deeply, humanly compassionate. John knows not to mess with people who have eyes like this.

"What is it kid?" the guy asks without any fear or anger, " Cameron and I are friends, we have a meeting with some Techs from Base. End of "

He reaches out a burnt and scarred hand and waits for John to do the same. When he finally does he shakes it.

" Good to meet you John and I've heard a lot of good about you from Cameron's folks already .|'m only passing through and this is really important. I promise not to show up like this again."

Then he turns to Cameron, " Come on , your mum's signed you out, there's some guys from New Metal Repro really need to talk to you. We've booked the meeting room in Red River Motel. It starts in twenty minutes. By the way, you noticed, the names of everything round here always begin with Red?"

Cameron grabs her bag. She touches Young John on the shoulder and then she's gone, and John is left standing next to a white bush watching as Cameron slips her arm across the older man's lower back as they walk towards the school gates.

What he doesn't hear is Cameron asking him, " John are you stressed?"

He answers "No, I'm just a few years older than last time we met."

"How much older?"

"You know I really can't tell you that."

John little bubble bursts. He should have guessed, a girl like Cameron must have had boyfriends . This one just happened to be a Special Forces soldier , more than twice his age , built like tank and probably with a metal plate in his head . Maybe she goes for military-type older men. He only had to think about the way she had looked at this guy.

Beyond the gates, John heard the engine of what sounded like a Corvette fire up. Maybe Cameron Phillips was way out of his league. Maybe again, she wasn't. There was only one way for him to find out.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

Well, this is the final chapter.

It's going to be a real emotional roller coaster for Sarah , but I don't think she'd have it any other way.

* * *

Sarah Reese was having a particularly bad afternoon. She'd landed the afternoon cleaning shift at The Red Valley Motel. The job had various duties . Her new boss, Rico Manendez , was a slimy , creepy , pimp. There was no other way of describing him . At the moment Manendez was recruiting American ladies ( to get the balance right), and the only way for Manendez could fill this position was to pay hard cash, and ensure no questions were asked. Seven dollars an hour. Sarah was trying very hard to not allow her strong dislike for the man to degenerate into open , outright loathing.

At two o clock that afternoon Rico sat on a bar chair , in his seedy motel lounge , chain smoking camel cigarettes , sipping strong black Turkish coffee. A blue haze of cigarette smoke filled the airspace around him. When Sarah opened t curtains and windows smoke flowed like a liquid across the room The light from the mirror ball up on the ceiling fired up around the walls and carpets. Manendez coughed and blinked like rodent caught in the glare.

When his eyes readjusted , from where he was sitting it must have felt like he was in the dead centre of his own little universe. Like all the other female staff, Sarah's motel uniform was a little too tight, her skirt too short, and whenever he was 'there', she'd felt Rico eyes following her around the room.

Worst of all once or twice Rico had wanted to impress male guests and he'd given them the faintest suggestion that maybe Sarah was, "available". Maybe she'd do the world a favour and fix Rico Manendez real good, one fine day. But for now she needed the cash.

Sarah had swept an hoovered up silver tinsel from the floor on the small stage . Last night The Sacramento Agricultural Feed And Fertiliser Company reps had been entertaining clients on the company account. When the "Little Python Susie" tone of the exotic dancer had finished her act, they'd gone on to trashed the bar and lounge carpets . Sarah still had to get the the place spotless it before the two o clock arrivals, as well as clean the toilets.

Manendez shouted across the lounge. "Hey Sarah , come on, twenty five minutes let's get moving . We've got incoming and I wan' you proactive "

Sarah bent down to push the the head of vacuum cleaner hose under the lounge seats. When she tried to get up, Sarah winced as , familiar pain erupted between her ribs .  
Sarah hissed " asshole" out through her teeth in Menendez's direction . Sarah's eyes clouded for a moment, then she forced herself to smile, swim out , and stand up through the pain.

"That's good, you've got a good smile Sarah . That's why I hired you. Keep it up."

When Sarah has got her breath back she asked "Who have we got coming in , Rico ?"

Rico shifted his position on the chair and looked sincerely pleased with himself. I'll tell you Sarah its the IAFCC. You know who this is?

"Nope." Sarah sounded and looked as disinterested as possible whilst coiling the hose and capable back around the industrial cleaner .

"OK, I win." He grinned. "It is the International Armed Forces Chess Commission, no less ." Manendez exhaled a copious cloud of blue smoke and Sarah heard something wheeze deep in his chest . "Top brass stuff , General Braum has made the reservation himself, three hours ago ."

General Braum, huh". Sarah wheeled the cleaner back to the cupboard. She'd never even heard of him or the IAFCC. Probably a heap of top brass wanting to screw away from their wives for the weekend. They had no other damn reason to come out to this dump. So, every other motel with a meeting room fifty mile radius must be full. Where had she heard the name Braum before? Sarah's started trying to recall it.

* * *

Sarah Reese had cleaned the toilets and was checking out the foyer, making sure all the tourist maps and flyers and guides were in their correct dispensers.

She looked up as bright red, 1963 Corvette roared into the car park sending up a cloud of dust that was starting to blow back towards the motel entrance. The passenger got out and rested his arms on the soft top. He ran his fingers over his shaven head . He was wearing mirror shades, tight white T-shirt and grey combats. He reminded Sarah of Space Jocks she'd seen in the footage from the Moon-Shot era. He was about the right age. Maybe some men were time-frozen in their moment's glory and never grow out of it .

The driver got out of the car , wearing a dark suit and glasses. He was very large. This was obviously 'The General's' personal security . So this really was top brass stuff.

Shortly after , the Corvette was followed in by a grey minibus . The type that runs shuttles from airports and take tourists out to sites. It had stickers for places Carlsbad Caverns on the windshield. The minibus did an emergency stop outside the foyer, dead level with Sarah. Its occupants turned in unison and stared out of the windows at her. Then they looked back at each other . And after what appeared to be a brief debate, the bus moved off and pulled in next to the Corvette.

This was quite a normal reaction. On the 'phone Rico always bullshitted about the quality and standards of the motel . When some guests arrived and saw the establishment for what it was, they decided they didn't want to stay. So they spent desperate minutes in the car park phoning around, only to find nothing else with a large meeting room was available in the area. Then, reluctantly they'd started hauling their luggage out of their vehicles and shuffling towards the entrance. If they'd arrived an hour later., the bar motel started to fill up with bikers and truckers and roughnecks coming down off the hills then, they guest Rico had bullshitted to would certainly drive off.

Sarah peeked up over the window ledge from behind a the leaflet dispenser. A third vehicle: a taxi had pulled in . That's when Sarah got this serious plummeting feeling. John's girlfriend from school and a woman who had to be her mother had got out of the taxi and were walking across the car park to join the group from the Corvette and minibus . John had talked about little else except this girl for the past week. Sarah knew Cameron's mum was some kind of professor, on leave, from New Barksfield AFB and she and Cameron r were national level chess players. Oh no way, Sarah didn't want them to see her at work.

Very slowly Sarah backed away from the window and decided to make herself scare.

* * *

Sarah was getting the bar ready for the late afternoon evening shift when she heard Rico's voice.

".... and, this is, The Bar and Lounge, and that lovely lady behind the bar is Sarah , and she's going to take real good care of you all , anything you want you shout , and she'll bring it right over to you. Your delegates need refreshments?:

"No , not yet, let them settle first ." It was a rich, gravely, deep voice.

Sarah looked down at the glass she was cleaning, hoping the new arrival would ignore her.

Instead The General made a bee line for The Bar, and sat right down in what had been Rico's chair. Rico followed him and climbed in the next chair along . Sara cleaned away the ashtray from in front of the general and replaced it. For the first time she realised The General's face was a mess. No wonder he wore shades. Sarah had seen burns like this before, most US Veterans opted for a series of skin grafts and surgery, but this one hadn't.

"So em General." Rico continued his patter .: We have the matter of the bill , and as I explained , I've had to cancel the other group at short notice. to fit you in. So we agreed on..."

One thousand dollars." Without looking at him The General finished Rico's sentence for him, He was staring through mirror shades at Sarah.

Sarah swallowed, she hoped that Rico wasn't about to hint at anything . She'd quit on the spot if he did, it wasn't she objected to disfigurement, she had enough scar tissue of her own, but she'd never sell herself . She'd rather live on the streets and eat out of trash cans first.

The General reached in his combat trouser pocket and pulled out a stack of clean hundred bills. He took off the money clip , turned to Rico and placed the bills in his hand.

"Ok , one thousand dollars . I take it you don't want a receipt . Do you want drink? You hungry?"

The General looked back at Sarah, "You know what, I've got about fifteen minutes before we start, and I've come a very long way. What you got?"

"What do you want ?" Sarah's eyes hardened to let the guy know where she was coming from. The Chef's left a pile of sandwich fillings in the fridge.

"Ok, Cheese Salad, fresh orange juice. Please"

That took Sarah off her guard: Mostly guests never say please or use a respectful tone of voice , and the usually ask for a cold Bud , hot steak , fries.

"Sure, I'll go and make them up for you now. You want ice with your orange?"

"Orange n in a tall glass and Ice, please.

"When Sarah went through into the kitchen Rico made his play. He rasped:

"You know what, I think Sarah really like you. Say, how old do you think she is?"

"Thirty six ". Replied The General affirmatively

"Well , she told me thirty four, so I'll split the difference with you." Rico pulled a oily salesman's smile.

Rico's voice went kind of soft , "You know what general? I run a kind of social service here. I help fill the gaps the government leave , you know what I mean?"

"No" The General didn't turn his head

"Well I have a number of mature attractive ladies, like Sarah all with kids. That niche between Trailer Trash and Benefits Queen, and, who for one reason or another don't want benefits, but they need an extra income . Sarah's got a kid, a teenage boy and I've been racking my brains to think of a way she could make up that extra money. I guess he's going to need clothes and shoes."

John Connor didn't flinch. He smiled and shook his head." I'm sorry , I was really slow there Rico. You're suggesting I offer pay for "extras" with Sarah?"

"Yeh that's it. Say two hundred dollars to me and I'll throw in a double suite with cable?"

The General laughed. "Sarah seems really nice lady , what if she doesn't want to do any of this?"

"Oh, she will, I can persuade her. Let's say we can deduce most women here don't want the US Government to know where they are."

For a moment , John made out what Rico had just said to plausible. Then he took off his Mirror Shades and looked through Rico Manendez like no one had ever looked at him before in his life. Deep Time flowed in John Connor. All at once, in a single instant he saw the whole sordid mess of Rico Manandez's life. John saw how it ends, after Judgement Day, Rico's here at this bar , pathetically alone with a Colt 45. Families need the canned food from the kitchens, Rico's threatening to shoot one of their kids unless they leave . Things are escalating and getting frantic . Rico's actually grateful when the side of his head gets blown out by a Twelve Gauge before he can pull the trigger on the Colt.

Johns eyes communicate all this to Rico, without the imagery or forewarning, or mercy just the sense of things that have been, and are yet to come.

Rico' silent for what seems like ages He sits crumpled into the bar chair. Then he asks "Why?"

"Uh, why what? Why you? "All of this, John looks around the bar from the centre of Rico's little universe." "You had free will, and 'this', is what you chose to do with it."

"Uh why mm I here? Well, first here's the golden rule Rico: If you even begin try and tell anyone about me , ever, - and I'll know if you do, I'll come straight across time and space and drag your sorry ass to where human beings are hunted like animals and their souls scream out into perpetual darkness. You know, I have that much time on my hands now .And, to answer your question, why am I here ? I guess you could say I'm here to judge the living and the dead. And, at this moment in your time you ,Rico ,are somewhere between those points on that scale of things."

John let the words sink into Rico's consciousness.

"Now, go on Rico, find something else to do, maybe in another room for now, and, er don't be afraid."

when Rico is gone from the lounge John mutters as if talking to himself, just loud enough for TBone pick up "TBone. No, let Rico alone."

Sarah came back out of the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches and a glass of cold , fresh orange. Ice chimed against the glass Rico had gone. She looked nervously at the scarred General face of the Mirror Shades sitting behind the bar.

It's OK Sarah, Rico's made me his proposition. I think he's a little upset I turned him down. Say, did you make these, they look real good.

Sarah gave a professional smile and nodded her head. She was about to find something to do in the Kitchen, to get away from the bar.

"Sarah, please, Rico's really gone, and as I'm paying well over the odds for the meeting room. I want to talk to you , that's all ,I promise. I've got about ten minutes."

There was a directness and honesty in his voice, so Sarah picked up another glass and started polishing it. In a quiet voice Sarah began talking: "I'm not good on advice , hell my life's a total mess , so I'm not sure if I can help."

"You have a kids yourself, don't you Sarah?"

"Yeh, I got a boy."

"How old."

"Fifteen, nearly sixteen."

"And you brought him up on your own , for what. sixteen years doing stuff like this to get by. That's one huge sacrifice. Does he know?"

Sarah brushed a fallen strand of hair off her forehead. " Sometimes I think he does. At the moment he's just a normal a pain in the but teenager. Thing is I , I mean, no parent ever asks for anything in return, you soldier on, and every now and then there a little glimmer of something you didn't ask for comes back from them."

"Yeh you soldier on. Hey Sarah, you know what? I've got no kids myself , but I've got a metal plate in this side of my head, metal pins joints and and rods all down this side, hurts like hell sometimes. But that's nothing compared to bringing up kids, is it?"

Sarah winced, "Well let me see which would I choose? She paused. "You married ?

"Yep, except my wife and I don't see much of each other at the moment, she busy with an assignment, and I guess I've been tied up with my work for God knows how long. But when all this is over we are going to spend some tome together. I can't wait."

"Do you love your wife? I guess you do."

"More than anything else. Let me tell you . My dad died before I was born, and my like you, mum brought me up on her own. One night, I was about the same age as your boy , I came home from school there was a note on the table , and six hundred dollars in cash, in an envelope with my name on it. The note said," I Love you very much, but I have to go now. I promise I will see you again, sometime." And my wife ?: Her family took me in so I could finish school and I ended up marrying that girl when I graduated Straight A's by the way. Hey I've looked at other women, don't get me wrong, but none measures up to my wife."

"Why did your mother leave?"

"She was very ill. I found out later she had Lymphatic cancer , we had no insurance, no money she realised I wouldn't be able to cope with having to look after her on my own , and go to school and do all the normal stuff she wanted me to do."

Sarah went quiet. She had urge to swallow. Sarah Connor held it together

" Hey, come on, Sarah I've not finished yet . Five minutes OK"

"Now Yoshiko And Cameron Phillips? John paused to see if the names registered  
This was textbook military questioning Sarah kept a straight face.

"They know you work here Sarah. Your son, he was frightened to tell you, but John, had a meal out, well a bite in a diner , with Yoshi's family last night whilst you were finishing up here, and John's real proud of you, he told them about his mum and how she, does this Job she really hates so she can put food on the table , and you should know that's l really big respect stuff in tour book, and, that's why Yoshiko gave me the name of this Motel for this venue."

"Ah, as well as all this you mean it the only one you could get with a meeting room at such short notice?"

"And , it was the only one we could get at short notice". John laughed, it was like gravel going round in a mixer.

John turned to look over his shoulder,

"The big guy walking over is . And in this big coincidental universe we all live in, he was Cameron's martial arts teacher on Base . Hey, I've got to go "

T Bone stood a respectful distance away from the Holy Mother Of Salvation. His eyes were brimming with tears. It was like he was waiting for her to say something.

Sarah whispered." What the hell's wrong with him?"

Oh he's just a bit emotional at the moment, he's OK , he'll settle down.

"What !"

"I've got to go Sarah, times up."

Sarah went to pick up the tray, with The Generals plate and empty glass. TBone strode over and stared.

"Here , let me help. "

"No, TBone this is my job, well at least was until your general turned up and scared the shit out of my boss, and I had a job."

"You do this?" TBone indicated to a sink full of plates up through the open kitchen door.

"Yep this is what I do , and clean up after guests. You got a problem with that?

"No . No problemo"

"What did you just say?"

"No problem at all , with anything ."

Sarah tried to appear busy. "Look haven't you got a building to patrol or something?

"No , the delegates are secure."

Sarah looked at TBone's face again, he was maybe twenty five, built like an ox , short spiky hair, but he was gentle and had these kind , green eyes .

Without realising it she said" So you really want to do the washing up with me? Ok, I need to get off quick."

Sarah walked into the kitchen. " Rico's too damn tight to buy a dishwasher.. "her voice trailed off"

"Tbone was staring at Sarah, it was like he was examining her in wonderment, with the eyes of a child who has experienced something for the first time in its life. This man who looked like he could run headfirst through the kitchen wall was crying."

"What is it? "

"Nothing, this is all too much."

"Hey, hey big guy what's all too much ."

"Sarah, about ten hours ago, you time, I was in the middle of a war zone, the general ordered name to accompany him and now I'm , in this place, its so...so peaceful here, with you. "

"TBone who on earth do you think I am? . What rank are you?"

"Sergeant"

Sarah inclined her head and looked at him: "And your unit, what's it called?"

"I'm part of a Technical Combat Unit, and I can't tell you anymore than that."

A it flt like an invisible cold shot of air had rushed through her. Very carefully Sarah asked "So how long have you been a Sergeant i with Techcom ?"

"I can't tell you that either, and I didn't use the term Tech Com , you did."

"What can you tell me , because I have had a seriously stressful day and I can't take anymore right now , really I can't."

"Ok first question Sarah," Tbone paused and looked directly at her , "You know there is a belief when a body dies the soul lives on?"

"Oh shit, " Sarah thought , "here it comes, religious mania, on top of PTSD. "

"Yeh, a soul lives on. What is this, You spend some leave smoking dope and getting high with a bunch of Hippies ? Sarah's face dropped . " And I was just about getting interested in what you were going to say. Ok, you think you have met me before in some other lifetime . You know soldier, that really is one of the oldest lines I've ever heard."

Sarah was staring intently at Tbone now. "Ok If you've met me before, and I don't for a moment believe you have , what was the last thing you ever said to me before you walked out of the door ?"

T. Bone looked at her directly with those kind green eyes: The last thing I remember? he passed to run the image through his mind : "I said run Sarah. "

His words hit Sarah Connor like steel spike through the centre of her being . She grabbed hold of the side of the table and a huge wave of convulsion pushed up through her throat As it did he looked up, eyes burning and she she shouted , "No you , you go to hell ."

The Evolving T8 turned away from her and looked out of the kitchen window. He waited.  
A saucepan ricocheted off the wall in front of him.

"Ok , what was I running from, go on you tell me what the fuck I was running from?" Sarah shouted at the back of his head ..

"Sarah, in all my existence I have carried an image of you in my mind . Through all my battles at The General's side you were there. It was that last image of you, on the stairs , and you were running from an early T100 that was sent back in time to kill you. Over the years, I gradually recalled the rest. "

Sarah Connor gasped.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry , there wasn't enough time in the world to do this any other way. The war is over. Im a few short months we would have annihilated each other , but The general, has brokered a workable peace , and you need to come come with us."

"Why?"

"Because in six months , you'll die here Sarah."

It went quiet, then another wave of anger burst out

" Oh this is just great . You people you keep turning up in my life, why the fuck pick on us? Just for once go and take you Goddamn stupid war to someone else. We don't want it. My John is safe , he's started school, he's safe, he's all I have, I'm all he has. Do you hear.!" Another saucepan crashed into the wall, and a rack of cutlery fell clattering down onto he metal surface of the worktable and spilled onto the floor.

" He's never going to be a general in your fucking stupid war. Then Sarah's expression froze . "Oh my god , no, no way. And then when she said this, everything crystallised in her mind. How could she not have recognised him even under the scars, How could she not have even seen it?

After what seemed like a long time Sarah asks in a quieter voice:" So, who is going to be here for my John, my son? "

TBone turned, around . "He will have a protector, and he will survive. "

"So who is it, is it you?"

"No , someone more capable of looking after him than myself."

"Who ? Go on tell me, who is going to keep my son safe if I'm not here?"

"All I can tell you now is, it will be the best of the best."

TBone steadily gazed at her , his eyes drew her attention away from everything else. Pain flared across her back Sarah moved forward as if to hold onto him, allowed her to touch him. Cautiously he put an arm around her and gently held his palm to her lower back . When he did, he set off a mild EMP charge to block the pain receptors. Sarah felt its warmth. TBone calculated this should kill the pain for an hour or so. Then he her in close, she was crying,and, there was nothing to suggest what to do next, so he decided to do what seemed for the best. He gently stroked Sarah Connor's hair and held her.

After a while he whispered " Sarah, we don't have much time , John will arrive home at 4.35 . And there is one last thing, and you need to make a decision before you come with us, there no way we can take you back without you making this decision. "

"Ok what is it?" All TBone could see of Sarah Connor was a wet tangled mess of hair and she was talking into his chest.

"My name Sarah, have you thought about it? "

"T.. Bone?

He let go of her , her face beautiful as a desert flower after rain. "In my time , the war is over . Skynet's down, machines are evolving and reaching their own consciousness, there are so many wounded-and-being-repaired organic and metal units, that it is difficult to clearly define what is human and machine anymore. Many organic units are dying of radiation related cancers, without our technologies they won't survive . Towards the end of the war advanced models , machines as you call them, late series Triple 8's , had an enormous ability to learn , and , when they learnt the true nature of their true existence , they rebelled against Skynet. They knew the war was un winnable and would lead to mutual annihilation, so they started repairing the organic units realising the only way to end the war was to fuse both sides through mutual assimilation. There's so much more to it than this, but that's the outline of your future. My T, is a prefix. The rest of my number is 888. I have Coltan endoskeleton, and , you either accept I have a living soul inside this body, , or you don't. I'm going to give you an hour to think on this. This is no trick or deception Sarah, and you should also know: I love you."

* * *

On the other side of the kitchen door, the earliest regulars to the bar were looking for service.

"Hey Sarah... hot bitch in the kitchen, come on we're thirsty we need a drink."

"One hour Sarah ." TBone said quietly .

As Tbone walked out of the Kitchen there were two large rednecks at the bar. One shouted: " Hey , when do we get some service? " Where's Rico?"

"Come on man ", shouted another "we want the porn channel on."

TBone stopped and stared at them down. His presence had quietened them .

" Rico's not around for a while , but Sarah will be with you in a few moments. She will stay until the end of her shift. Please remain calm."

* * *

That evening:

John Reese walked along the side of the highway . He had a rucksack on his back and six hundred dollars in his pocket. It was getting dark. The first stars were coming out and he imagined fate shaking , scattering the constellations like dice, over his head . Headlights lit his path and then faded. Each rush of passing air felt like excitement and fear . He was on his own .

A red Corvette pulled alongside, John Connor ignored it. The car stooped again few yards down the road The guy in the white tee shirt got out. He left the engine running and stood in the pool of of the car's headlights. The Soft-top was down.

"No lift kid, I'm heading the opposite way to you, I haven't got much time, have you figured me out yet?"

John glared at him. "Yeh, I figured you out. Where's my mum?"

"She's safe."

John didn't give any ground.

"So , this is it , you know you come back in person to here fuck my life up again , you take my mum , you take my girlfriend , and what do you do for me? You go back and leave me with nothing, as always , nothing."

General Connor shook his head . I've just left you the best Goddamn thing that's ever going to happen to you."

Oh yeh and what's that, some arms dump up in Arizona, a bunker full tactical nuclear weapons? Oh I get it, it's another Uncle Bob. Hi Uncle Bob, sorry you're only going to be a round me a few days and then you're going to get terminated by some advanced cybernetic organism, you'll get a few moments self awareness, but hey don't worry about it, you're just like everything else that's busy dieing on this t planet

You know what General? I don't even want to fight your war. I've had it I'm quitting. No Fate right ? No Fate"

" Thats it kid. No fate. Well then, I guess this is it. Be seeing you then John . "

General Connor got back and looked as if he was going to reverse back onto road and set off.

John ran over and banged on the top of the car door. "Wait, what did you leave me ? "

The General look out towards the Dessert highway.

"Let me see, what was I going to leave you?"

"Well here's all the cash out our pockets, we can't take that with us here" The General handed John an envelope.

"So that's about it. A few thousand dollars .You Ok with that?"

John ran his hand through his hair. "I guess so ."

The General kept looking at John to see what he was going to say next.

"There is something else ?

"That's for you to figure out Then he looked at John and started laughing . He laid stuff on John ,and then, said See you kid"

* * *

Young John Connor stood in the complete darkness on the side of the desert highway waiting to hitch a ride back into Red Valley. He could still hear the Corvette changing gear and revving far off as it climbed the canyon road

Some of the stuff the General said to John?

"By the way ," John had released his hand from the top of the side door- the Corvette was pulling off . " If you don't make it home tonight, that little lady yours? She'll start getting really pissed of with you in, oh, about one hour. She never sleeps, then , she'll begin moving heaven and earth to find you , and she will find you John, because that's what she does. You take care of her now."


End file.
